Hey guys!
Today’s recipe is super exciting because it’s probably one of everyone’s favourite comfort foods – pasta!
Oh, so you don’t like a big bowl of spaghetti with a super meaty sauce on top? Meatballs? Maybe some penne with a creamy lemon garlic sauce? A creamy carbonara with crispy pancetta bits? A rich buttery fettuccine Alfredo, with some mushrooms and grated parmesan on top? … Mac and cheese?
Well, either way, most people love a rich creamy pasta, but for people like me it usually means breaking the calorie goal intake for the day, where a single pasta dish could be up to 1,200 calories. And what about folks on a low carb diet? Forget it people, it ain’t happening!!
Luckily your girl here has found a beautiful, wonderful, magnificent solution – konjac pasta!
The konjac plant – Amorphophallus konjac – is grown in China, Korea and Japan. The edible bit of the plant is its root, resembling a potato, and is made of fibre and water, without all the starch a normal potato would contain. The root is ground into flour, and then moulded into various shapes upon boiling. You may have seen it called ‘konnyaku’ foods, or a form of noodles called ‘shirataki’ noodles. In this particular recipe I am using the NuPasta brand of konjac pasta. This brand offers different shapes of the root pasta – spaghetti, fettuccine, and angel hair.
For people who have never tried this form of ‘pasta’, be warned – not depending on the brand, the pasta is usually packaged into a plastic container or bag, in calcium hydroxide which keeps it fresh. And just to warn you, this calcium hydroxide also has a somewhat fishy smell. But fear not! It is safe to consume – just wash your pasta thoroughly with cold water and the smell will be gone.
Now, you must understand – this will not taste exactly like the homemade pasta your grandmother used to make (I’m just going to assume everyone’s grandmother is a small Italian lady who makes homemade pasta, okay? Just imagine it for now). The konjac pasta is quite rubbery and very watery.
My trick is to wash it, let it drain in a colander, then drop it on a super hot pan for a while, to allow the pasta to dehydrate as much as possible and crispen up. I also place it on a paper towel to further dry it out. Also, I have found, the thinner it is when you buy it, the better (hence ‘angel hair’ is my favorite out of the three NuPasta variations!).
Now that we have overcome the smell and the texture, it is time for the best part – the nutrition facts!
A full package of NuPasta, or 210g, contains only 25 calories! Yes, you heard me right! Amazing, right? Well anyway, this is the whole point of this post – a low calorie, lower carb pasta alternative!
The sauce is extremely easy to make, as the base is just tomato paste with water, keeping it very low calorie as well. Then maybe you can add some heavy cream, a load of grated cheese… maybe some bacon on top… I’m just kidding (sort of).
In this particular case I used ground turkey instead of beef, as that lowers the calorie count, and for my vegetables I used bell peppers, mushrooms and some spinach. As for spices, I usually add everything to taste! Oh, and I always add a little bit of sugar when working with tomato paste, as it balances out the sour taste of it.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
- 100 g ground turkey
- Handful of spinach
- Minced garlic
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 1 cup water
- Oregano seasoning
- Paprika powder
- Ground cumin powder
- Salt and pepper
- Pinch of sugar
- 1/3 cup grated cheese
- 1 package of NuPasta, or any konjac noodles/pasta
First, wash and drain the pasta, then drop it on a hot pan for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until it starts looking dry and a little more ‘crunchy’, then set it aside.
Next, oil the pan and sauté the vegetables you decided to use. I usually start with the garlic, then drop in the vegetables, and after a few minutes I drop in the ground meat.
Let the meat cook through, add spinach, add your 1/2 cup of tomato paste, and then add the cup of water. Keep mixing it in the pan until the paste and water have come together to form a sauce. A better way would be to mix them in a separate bowl first, but we are lazy cooks, and that’s an extra step we aren’t willing to take here people!
Let the sauce simmer while you add all your spices. Once done, pour the sauce on top of your ‘pasta’, top with grated cheese and voila! You have yourself a huge bowl of saucy goodness, which with my choice on ingredients falls around 400 calories.
The whole bowl was so big, I had trouble finishing it all. And let me tell you guys, if I say I had trouble finishing it then that means it was huge. I don’t play around with how much I can eat (this girl once ate a whole rotisserie chicken. BY HERSELF. Don’t even try me).
Remember, you can add whatever meats and vegetables you want. For my keto folks, you can substitute the turkey for ground beef, and add some heavy cream to your tomato sauce. Ah, and load up on the cheese!
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