My husband and I both gained weight after getting married back in 2015. I blamed all the sweets. Thomas said my cooking was too good to pass up. Eventually, we both decided to start a diet so he could get back into his jeans again and so my mom wouldn’t disown me (she said she’d cut ties with me if I became overweight. Asian parents, you know!).
So we decided to try out the Slow Carb Diet – a diet centered on vegetables, meat, and beans. Fruits, desserts, and most carbs were not allowed, except for beans.
Bean pasta?
That diet didn’t last long. After all, how could I abandon all the noodles and dumplings?
During the diet, I did find some tricks to cut down calories while maintaining great taste, though.
One trick is to use pasta made from beans instead of normal wheat pasta. For example, there are pastas made purely from lentils, chickpeas, black beans, etc. Compared to the average pasta, chickpea pasta has double the amount of protein, four times the fiber, and nearly cuts the carbs in half.
The texture and taste of the pasta are not exactly the same as of wheat pasta. But it’s similar and tasty enough to use with any sauce, or to add into salad or soup. I’ve also found that we’re less likely to have headache or sugar crash after consuming bean pasta.
You can easily find bean pasta at Trader Joe’s (their private label product), Whole Foods, or on Amazon.
Since we discovered bean pasta, we’ve been using it whenever we can, to replace white carbs.
Pasta, Chinese style
Today, I want to introduce a dish I enjoy cooking when I want to fix a quick lunch – a stir fried pasta with plenty of veggies and seasoned with a rich garlic sauce. The sauce is adapted from my famous Eggplant In Garlic Sauce recipe. It creates a very authentic taste with very few ingredients, ingredients you can get at almost any grocery store.
I added plenty of delicious and nutritious vegetables, such as mushrooms and kale. Of course, you can always tweak the recipe with other vegetables, depending what you have on hand. For example, replace the mushrooms with zucchini, or the kale with spinach or bok choy. Your dish will still turn out well.
I used chickpea pasta in this dish to make my meal healthier. However, if you have regular pasta, do feel free to try out the recipe nonetheless 😉
More delicious fried noodles
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
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Mushroom Kale Pasta with Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 8oz./227g box chickpea pasta (or whatever type of pasta you prefer)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari for gluten free (*Footnote 1)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 pound mushrooms sliced
- 3 to 4 kale leaves chopped
- Optional Toasted pine nuts for garnish
Instructions
- Boil the chickpea pasta according to the instructions.
- Combine soy sauce, sugar, and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Whisk to mix well.
- Add 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet and heat over medium high heat until hot. Add the mushrooms. Cook and stir occasionally until the mushrooms are browned. Transfer to a plate.
- Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil, garlic, and kale. Stir a few times and cover the pan. Steam for 30 seconds, or until the kale is almost cooked through.
- Add back the pasta and pour in the sauce. Cook and stir until the sauce is mostly absorbed. Try the pasta and sprinkle with a bit more salt, if needed. Stir to mix again and transfer everything to a serving plate.
- Serve hot as a main.
Notes
Nutrition
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