Foodie Swellness: Spicy vegetarian (and low-cal!) noodle bowl recipe
I received a few packages of NuPasta a couple of weeks ago and I was very intrigued. I’d never heard of konjac, which is a root vegetable native to East Asia. It’s grown 2,000 to 4,000 feet above sea level, and the root is dried and milled and this results in a fibre called konjac glucomannan (which is the main ingredient in NuPasta). Each serving of high-fibre NuPasta is only 25 calories a serving (which is one-tenth the calories of regular pasta) and it’s gluten-free, so I wondered whether this could be a satisfying replacement for pasta for people looking to slash calories or who follow a gluten-free diet. (Which is not me, but I love a good noodle option, so I tucked the packages into the kitchen cupboard).
It took several tries but I finally found a satisfying, delicious, and simple way to enjoy NuPasta. Here’s what I learned experimenting in the kitchen with NuPasta:
The first time I tried it, I’d just gotten home from a trip so my fridge was bare and I needed a quick dinner, so I ate the NuPasta with some jarred prepared pasta sauce. Bad choice. I’ve never found a jarred pasta sauce that is anything more than mediocre, and the noodles themselves I found to be very neutral in flavour and have an almost bouncy texture. Which is to say they are not al dente whatsover. I ended up with a very soft, very bland bowl of noodles.
Second recipe attempt, I knew I needed more texture to the dish, and I had a fridge full of fresh veggies I’d received at a cooking class. So I thought a pasta primavera would work well. I sautéed the veggies in batches so that they’d retain some crunch, but in the end my dinner again was bland and the Parmesan and creamy sauce wasn’t pleasing with the NuPasta.
By now, I realized the NuPasta is neutral in taste, very soft and reminded me of a thicker, springier rice noodle, so I opted to make a noodle bowl versus thinking of NuPasta as a replacement for conventional pasta. I ended up grating carrots for crunch, added sautéed tofu and a boiled egg for protein, green onions for colour and flavour, sliced jalapeño for spice, and sautéed mushrooms for some earthiness.
The salsa macha I added once the bowl was complete is what takes this noodle bowl to the next level, though. It not only adds a fiery note but the jolt of red salsa bring the bowl alive visually. Salsa macha originates from Veracruz, and is made of chipotle chilies fried with garlic in olive oil (and it is also often combined with other peppers, more oil, nuts and sesame seeds). I received a few bottles of salsa macha from Los Colibris, a fine dining Mexican resto in Toronto, at a dinner event, so I used that, but here is Rick Bayless’s salsa macha recipe (or you can also just use sriracha to kick up the heat of your bowl if you have no salsa macha handy).
This noodle bowl was ready in a snap, was filling, had loads of different textures, and the soft and springy konjac noodles made much more sense to my palate when eaten in a broth.
Here’s a rough recipe of how you can make a comforting spicy vegetarian noodle bowl for yourself:
- Chop or grate your veggies of choice. I usually aim for at least two to three colours and at least one or two veggies should be crunchy. Ones I typically use in noodle bowls: spinach, baby boy choy, carrots, mushrooms, jalapeño, red pepper, bean sprouts, ginger, edamame.
- Sautée any of the veggies that you prefer lightly cooked. I prefer the texture and flavour of sautéed mushrooms compared to raw, for example. Set each veggie aside.
- Sautée cubes of medium-firm tofu. Set aside.
- Boil one egg. I prefer soft-boiled eggs with my noodles but you can go with hard-boiled, too.
- Bring about two cups of broth to a boil in a small pot (I usually use chicken broth but here I used mushroom broth as it was what I had on hand.) Add a dash of soy sauce and fish sauce to the broth.
- Drain one package of NuPasta in a colander and rinse under the tap with water.
- Once broth is boiling, add NuPasta, veggies, egg and tofu to the pot and warm through.
- Pour into a bowl and top with sliced green onions, about a half teaspoon of salsa macha and a drizzle of sesame oil.
Enjoy!
Leave a Comment April 19, 2016
