Vegan Zucchini Ramen

If you had told me a year ago that I'd get excited about vegan food, I would have smooshed my burger in your face and called you unsightly names.
But this soup? So worth not having any animal products in it. I could eat it every day. I'm waiting for my mouth to feel better so that I can have this.
This was the soup I tossed around as an idea for a while, where I was like, "Yeah, I want to try this," and it sat on the back burner for a while. And then I made it. And then I wanted to make it all the time.
Let's talk about ramen a little bit. Like any good college student, I spent a lot of time eating ramen. But I hated that Top Ramen or Maruchan brands you find in the store. I got hooked on this spicy Korean ramen, and I could buy it by the case at this Asian grocery that was just twenty minutes' walk from my dorm. So, I ate a lot of it. It was a little pricier, but so worth it, because the flavour is maybe thirty thousand times better.
Fast forward to today. I still eat that ramen sometimes. There's an Asian grocery on McKnight that we go to every once in a while, and when I'm in an "eff the world" sort of mood, I eat that ramen.
You wanna know what's extra awesome about this ramen?
See that green stuff? The noodles? It's zucchini.
I MADE NOODLES OUT OF FRIGGING ZUCCHINI YOU GUYS.
That's insane.
I saw the idea for noodles made out of vegetables some time ago, and some of you may remember that root vegetable noodle dish I made. It was so good, and it was so simple. Just shave off strips of vegetable with a tool I already had, a vegetable peeler, and I was good to go.
And then I got a julienne peeler. It was a little gift to me, from me. And man, is that thing fabulous. It makes the best little noodles. And I can make zucchini noodles (or zoodles, for the weirdos), and make this super flavourful zucchini ramen and all is right with the world.
If you don't have a julienne peeler, you can just as easily use a vegetable peeler to cut strips and then slice those strips lengthwise.
Anyway...

Ingredients:
1 zucchini
1 half pack white or baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thin
4 medium or 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced thin
4 cups vegetable broth
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sesame seeds per bowl
salt and pepper to taste
Splash of rice wine vinegar

Directions:
Noodle-ize your zucchini, then place in a strainer and let dry for two hours.
When noodles are nearly ready, heat a small amount of oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add carrots, broth, salt, and pepper, and vinegar, and bring to a boil.
Lower heat, cover, and simmer until carrots are just tender.
Add mushrooms and simmer another three to five minutes.
Meanwhile, add zucchini noodles to bowls.
Ladle soup over noodles, top with sesame seeds.

That's it. It's simple, fast (except for drying the noodles), fresh, and refreshing. What could be better?
Also, it's super versatile. Adding onions, peppers, or some leafy greens would be fabulous. Maybe also some small sweet potato chunks.
This is the way to make the version for those who don't like too much spice. When I normally make this, I tend to add about a teaspoon of sriracha.