Who else loves a big comforting plate of Udon noodles smothered in veggies and a delicious creamy sauce?
This dish is vegan, nutritionally balanced, super quick, cheap and easy to make.
Gather your Ingredients:
Coconut Oil
1 Aubergine, quartered and sliced
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
1 chilli pepper, sliced and chopped
Selection of mushrooms
1 pack of fermented tofu
Udon, or your favourite noodles
For the sauce:
4 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp miso white miso paste
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
About 8 tbsps warm water added 1 at a time until you get the thickness you like
Make the sauce:
Add the sauce ingredients into a bowl or a pyrex jug, except the water. Stir with a fork or wooden spoon until combined. Add the water little by little until you get the thickness you prefer.
Cook
Heat a large frying pan or a wok and bring a large saucepan of water to the boil.
Into the hot wok or frying pan, add the aubergine, cook for a few minutes, then add in each of the other veggies continuing to stir and mix until almost cooked.
With the water boiling in the pan, cook the noodles, strain and refresh under cold water.
Add the noodles to the wok, mix well and then add in the miso-peanut sauce until everything is well covered.
Option to top with extra chopped peanuts or chilli flakes
Serve and enjoy!
Makes about 3 big portions, or 4 smaller.
(Recipe adapted from Carrie Walder, Walder Wellness)
Star Ingredient
The main protein source in this dish is the Fermented Tofu. Fermented soy products go through a fermentation process making them more digestion friendly. The friendly bacteria or probiotics found in fermented soy help nourish the gut and digestive flora, boosting digestion and the absorption of nutrients.
Because the majority of the immune system lives in the intestinal tract, these beneficial soy products, the tofu and the miso, aid immune function, too.
One of the biggest benefits of eating fermented soy products is for its vitamin K2 content otherwise known as menaquinone. This vitamin is difficult to get from other foods but plays an essential role in cardiovascular and bone health, keeping arteries flexible, getting calcium into the bones and out of the bloodstream and supporting the brain ensuring good vascular flow for optimal brain health and memory.
Vitamin K2 also maintains strong bones and muscle and nerves along with Vitamin D, Calcium and Magnesium.
Soy products get a lot of controversial media coverage. I would highly recommend always buying organic soy and GMO free, and even better if you can get fermented.
Patricia Alexander-Bird, Dip NT, BANT
Registered Nutritional Therapist at Anam Cara Nutrition.