Here’s a unique zucchini recipe for you – Spicy Asian Zucchini! Meaty zucchini halves seared then smothered with a mild chilli-garlic sauce. Quick. Easy. Big flavours. Serve as a side or a meat-free main with Garlic Rice.
Spicy Asian Zucchini recipe
This is a zucchini recipe for everyone who:
finds themselves scrambling for a quick Asian vegetable sides for meaty/starchy Asian mains. Think: Char Siu BBQ pork, dumplings, veg-less stir fries like Mongolian Lamb, Honey Chicken, Peking Shredded Beef (there’s actually lots if you think about it!);
is looking for something different to make with zucchini. Because you have an abundance of home grown or couldn’t resist a bargain at the shops (the latter is me); or
just generally enjoy finding new, tasty ways to use vegetables that are quick and easy to make. As in – main meal worthy.
This Spicy Asian Zucchini ticks all those boxes. An invention that came about when I was staring at a pile of more zucchinis than any normal person should have (but nobody has called me “normal” in a while) at a time when my spicy edamame was on repeat. Very similar sauce. Different use!
What you need for Spicy Asian Zucchini
Here’s what you need for this Asian zucchini recipe. First up – the secret ingredient…..zucchinis! 😂
Zucchini
Called courgettes in the UK and some parts of Europe, the cucumber shaped vegetable is at its prime in summer. But here in Australia, it’s available year round for fairly good value.
Size – It’s best to use small / medium zucchini around 15 – 18cm long (6 – 7″) so it’s easy to cook through on the stove. You’ll be surprised, it only takes around 3 to 4 minutes. But if you have gigantic ones (sometimes they can be!) you might want to cut them into quarters.
Spicy CHILLI GARLIC Sauce
This sauce is good! Simple with big flavours. Actually not that spicy, it’s mild. I see myself using this in another recipe in the foreseeable future.
Note: I put garlic in the photo below, I should have included it in the sauce photo because we sauté it. 🙂
Sambal Oelak – chilli paste which makes a nice sauce for smothering. Made with fresh chillis, found in large grocery stores and Asian stores. Pretty spicy eaten plain but combined with everything else in this sauce, the spiciness is dialled back quite a lot.
Substitute with sriracha (sauce not quite as glossy) or a not-too-spicy chilli crisp (taste and check) – sauce will have chilli crunch chunks and be oilier (yum!).
Sesame oil – Use toasted sesame oil which is brown and has better sesame flavour. Un-toasted is yellow and the sesame flavour isn’t as strong. Here in Australia, toasted sesame oil is standard. Un-toasted is harder to find.
Soy sauce – Don’t use soy sauce labelled “dark soy sauce”, way too intense and salty, will ruin the dish. Any general “soy sauce”, “all-purpose soy sauce” (like the Kikkoman pictured above) or “light soy sauce” can be used.
Mirin is a sweet Japanese cooking wine that is found in large grocery stores and Asian stores that is one of 3 core sauces in Japanese cooking (ie it’s good stuff!). It brings a depth of flavour and sweetness into the sauce in this recipe. Substitute with honey for a non alcoholic version – sauce still great (albeit sweeter) but not quite the same restaurant-y complexity of flavour. 🙂
Toppings (& garlic)
As mentioned above, the garlic should really be in the Sauce section. 🙂
Crispy Fried Shallots – an Asian pantry essential! Salty, oily, crunchy, terrific garnish for all things Asian, from soups to salads. I use it liberally – it’s a frequent player in my recipes so I’ve got some basic information about it here, in case you are new to it.
Find it in the Asian section of supermarket but cheaper at Asian stores.
Substitute with anything crunchy you can find in your cupboard – croutons, packet crispy noodles), handful of crispy fried rice (I make loads and keep it in jars when I make this salad). I’d even use roughly chopped peanuts.
Green onion – For freshness. Substitute with finely sliced red onion or eschallots (US: shallots aka French onions, those small purple-ish onions). I’d toss them through the sauce briefly to make them floppy.
How to make Spicy Asian Zucchini
Have you ever cooked zucchini halves on the stove before? It’s much faster than the oven – 6 minutes vs 30 minutes. Plus lovely browning on the zucchini that you’ll never get in the oven no matter how high you crank it! The zucchini just goes soft and watery. 🙂
Oil & salt – Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt then briefly toss.
Cook – Using a large non-stick pan heated to medium high, put the zucchini in cut side down and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until it gets nice colour on it. Then turn and cook the other side for 3 minutes. Give the zucchini a poke – you want it to feel tender but not soft/mushy/totally floppy, and still a little firm in the middle. The residual heat will finish cooking it through.
Doneness – I like to cook the zucchini until it is barely cooked – very crisp tender – so then the residual heat finishes cooking it through as you’re making the sauce and plating up. “Just cooked” is my preference because the more you cook zucchini, the more watery/mushy it gets which dilutes flavour.
However, if you prefer your zucchini fully soft all the way through, that’s entirely up to you! In which case I’d recommend using the oven – it’s a little hard to cook zucchini halves until soft on the stove. Directions in the recipe notes.
Garlic – In the same pan, sauté the garlic until light golden.
Sauce – Then add the remaining sauce ingredients and simmer for 30 seconds on low heat until syrupy. Don’t take it too far – I keep making that mistake when I’ve had multiple things on the go. If it reduces too much it gets too salty (though if this happens, just add a splash of water to the sauce to thin it).
Pour the sauce over the pile of zucchinis. I do it this way for simplicity – the sauce goes “everywhere” – and I think it looks nice. The other way of doing it is to put the zucchini in the pan and toss to coat evenly.
Garnish – Sprinkle with the crispy shallots (I am not shy about the amount I use) and the green onion. Then, serve!
How to serve Spicy Asian Zucchini
The obvious way to serve this is as a vegetable side. An excellent substantial (interesting!) one that can go alongside anything Asian, from stir fries to noodles to Char Sui Pork to gyoza or Chinese pan fried dumplings (potstickers).
Some suggested mains to serve with this Spicy Asian Zucchini
Having said that, I’ve been enjoying this as meal with a side of some kind of flavoured rice, such as:
Fried rice. My go-to: Chinese Fried Rice. Personal favourites: Nasi Goreng, Korean Kimchi Fried Rice.
Garlic rice – quick, easy, you can make it right now!
Baked fried rice – super handy when you don’t have day-old cooked rice on hand. (Also, it’s all baked in one pan. Yes, I said baked. It works. And I’m a rice snob).
Love to know what you think of today’s recipe! Certainly a little different from the usual zucchini recipes. 🙂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Spicy Asian Zucchini
Ingredients
- 5 zucchini, small / medium , cut in half lengthways (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp canola oil (or other plain oil)
- 3/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 1/4 cup crispy fried shallots , store bought (Asian pantry staple!) (Note 2)
- 1 green onion stem , finely sliced
Spicy sauce:
- 1 tbsp canola oil (or other plain oil)
- 3 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1 tbsp sambal oelak (sub sriracha or chilli crisp) (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil , toasted
- 1 tbsp soy sauce , light or all-purpose NOT dark soy (Note 4)
- 2 tbsp mirin – sub honey (Note 5)
Instructions
- Toss the zucchini in oil then sprinkle with salt and toss to (roughly) coat all over.
- Cook – Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Place half the zucchini cut side down and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the surface is golden. Turn and cook the skin side for 3 minutes. Pile onto a serving plate and repeat with remaining zucchini.
- Sauce – cool the pan slightly then return to medium heat. Heat the oil then sauté the garlic until light golden. Add remaining Sauce ingredients, simmer for 30 seconds until syrupy.
- Serve – Pour over zucchini, pile on Crispy Asian Shallots and green onion. Eat!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More things to make with zucchini
Life of Dozer
Let down alert!
On Monday I promised to share some “nice” photos from the Mudgee Readers’ Festival when I received the professional event photos, thinking there’d be plenty of sweet photos of him and I together.
That’s so typical of me to manifest that sort of thing in my mind. The reality is, the only “nice” photos of us together require much co-ordination, tugging and pulling, bear hugging and treats to entice him to co-operate. So, actually, looking through the photos I received, there weren’t that many of him and me! 😂
Here’s the best:
And here he is in a big group shot from the lunch at the Blue Wren Farm Restaurant – I met, chatted and took pics with everyone who attended!
And here I am doing a talk during lunch with Rebecca Saunders, a professional speaker in Mudgee. Dozer is under the table, waiting for food scraps. 😂
Then there’s the “real” photos captured of Dozer at the lunch. They are all along the lines of these:
And actually, this is the only posed shot of Dozer and me together – at the very end of the lunch, when everything had been cleared away and all the guests had left. Ha ha!!! So typical of me!
I have the best dog in the world. – N x ❤️
Yes, Nagi, you have the best dog in the world (except mine)! How many of us scroll through to see the Dozer photos before going back to check out the recipes. Absolutely LOVE Dozer.
I love hearing that!! Stuff my recipes 😂 It’s all about DOZER!!! N xx
The courgettes were watery and tasteless
It sounds to me as if you may have either stewed your courgettes, (cooked too slowly) or used ones that were far too big. AKA vegetable marrows. Can I suggest that you try again with smaller ones.
Ooh nuts! Did you by chance overcook them? Nagi does state this in her notes section of the recipe under “doneness” that they can become watery and flavor diluted. I hope you try this again.
We made this tonight and it was so good!! My 10 year old loved it and even spooned the sauce to mix into her rice
Thanks for another great recipe!!
Nagi, I mean no offense when I say you may or may not have the best dog in the world, that statement is definitely open for debate. However, If Dozer was to suggest, in dog speak, that he has the best owner/family in the world, I would be happy to agree. He is a lucky Dog. Well done you, a shining example of how a family pet should be cared for.
Such an amazing recipe. Easy, quick and super delicious. I used chili crisp in the sauce and it still turned out amazing. Nagi never disappoints!
I agree–You have the best dog in the world!!! Thanks for the photos of him.
This zucch recipe looks delicious can’t wait to try and I aDORE the 2nd to last pic of Dozer across your knee he is such a good boy. Thank you Nagi for sharing.
Ha ha I think that was a guest at the lunch, not me!! 😂
This is amazing!!
I got a giant zucchini from neighbour‘s garden which I didn‘t even know how to kill. I made bunch of think sticks and followed the recipe with Gochujang instead of sambal oelak. My husband said there‘s no need for meat at all (who‘s not afraid of turning on the grill in 33°C heat for a decent piece of steak)!
Wow! That’s a terrific idea to use Gochujang, I’m going to pop that in as a substitute option!! N x
My my, I feel honored! And my whole family just love you 🙂
Ooh, this looks so good I can’t wait to try it!
I will definitely be trying it as-written, but for those who know they prefer their zucchini softer / more cooked through, I wanted to share a method I learned from another recipe that I think would work well here: preheat oven to 450°F, sear the zucchini halves cut side down in oil over medium high heat in an oven safe skillet for 5-6 minutes, then transfer to the oven for 5 more minutes face down, flip and put back in for another 5 minutes face up. You get the lovely color and and texture of the charred outside, while also a pillowy soft interior. This recipe also called for scoring the cut side and salting them for 20-30 mins beforehand, blotting to remove excess moisture so perhaps that helps them become less watery.
That’s a great idea! Let me pop that in as a suggestion – N x
Made this tonight, with the requisite garlic rice, and added grilled chicken thighs to satisfy the carnivores. I used crunchy chilli oil. This is going into high rotation. Epic deliciousness.
That’s so great to hear Paul!! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know you enjoyed this – N x
Had a ball Nagi, Met some amazing people, Met you and Dozer, and the food! Well it was amazing. My mechanic said to me today ‘ I made the Thai Pumpkin Curry on the weekend and it was amazing’. so there you go. You are amazing. And BTW made the meatloaf last night…..Yes amazing. Love your work. When are you coming to the central coast?
Hi Sharyne – thanks so much for coming!! What a weekend 🙂 Say hi to your mechanic for me, pass on the message that I’m glad he enjoyed the soup! Need to find an excuse to come up to the central coats 🙂 I’ve done Newcastle a couple of times!! N xx
Incredible, made this as soon as I saw it and it’s so so good
WOAH!! That was fast! So glad you enjoyed it Renee, thanks for letting me know! N x
Popped up in an email today and I made it for dinner tonight. It was delicious. Easy and healthy.
WOW! You’re the first to make this Toni, that was super quick!! Glad you enjoyed it – N x
Am I looking in the wrong place or us there no nutrition panel for this recipe?
ADDED!!! Thanks for remaining me – N x
Nope, you have the second best dog in the world!!!! Gorgeous photos- love all of them. Thanks for sharing, particularly for those of us not in NSW.
He he, yup, the 2nd best dog in the world to all other dog mums!! 🙂 N xx
YUMMYNESS THANKYOU NAGI
Anything containing zucchini is a winner for me…
Dozer is one of a kind, yes he is super adorable…you are so lucky to have each other. Thank you for sharing Dozer with us ❤️
Dear Nagi: Love the spicy Zucchini recipe, but wonder what to substitute for the sambal oelek or sriracha if I make it for a friend who doesn’t like spicy food, please? If I just leave out the chili sauce will it still be interesting enough?
Kind regards, Kerene
Oh my gosh Dozer you are so adorabubble. Nagi, we love most of your recipes but this is going to be one of our faves – except the “save” button is missing on this page, if you can republish it? TVSM xo
Yay, I found the little heart so I can save this yummy recipe, thank you xo
Where did you find it? mine hasn’t shown up on my laptop for months and also I can’t access any of my saved recipes. Works ok on my phone.
He has the best friend in the world. The two of you are a perfect pair. Your sharing relationship makes us smile and touches our hearts.