5 Minute 5 Ingredient Vegan Mushroom Soba Pasta

If you, like me, like pasta, you should be eating soba! What is soba? Soba are Japanese noodles made of buckwheat flour. What’s the big deal about them? They’re low cal! Basically, half the calories of white pasta. A cup of cooked soba contains 113 calories whereas white spaghetti contains 220 per cup and wholewheat spaghetti 174.

113 < 220
113 < 174

You get it right?

For all you non-Japan dwellers, you should be able to find soba in the health or Asian section of your local supermarket. For Cantabrians, Piko, Liberty Market and New World.

Tonight I made this and WOW it was good. If I can say so myself.. which I can because this is my blog mwahaha. Anyways… I know a lot of people don’t like shiitake mushrooms so if you’re one of them you can use regular mushrooms or another vegetable all together (corn, broccoli or chickpeas are my recommendations).

1/2 packet of soba (or more or less whatever)
1/2 onion, diced small
1 punnet of shiitake mushrooms, chopped medium
1/2 can of whole peeled Italian tomatoes
spices (I’m cheating, I combined all the spices to make the recipe “5 ingredients” hehe but in my defense, it’s just a pinch of salt, red chilli and black pepper.)

Cook soba as per packet instructions, usually about a mere TWO minutes in boiling water – another reason why it’s so much better than pasta! It’s fasta! Get it? lol

Fry onion on medium heat with a little oil in a pan (1 minute)

Add mushrooms, stir (another min)

Add everything else, tomatoes, spices and cooked soba, stir.

Serve when all hot and steamy.

Oh mama mia! Oishi desu yo!

figalicious definition makin’ me go loco

Don’t worry, I’m not about to quit my day job! Here’s the good news though, THE FIGS HAVE RIPENED and hallelujah! THEYRE JUST AS DELICIOUS AS I THOUGHT! Sorry for the caps. Clearly, I’m a little over excited. So, if I haven’t already mentioned, I am living in Okayama AKA the ‘Fruit Kingdom’ of Japan. How convenient is that? Anyways, recently I’ve completely changed my breakfasts. There’s been a lot of talk/research about eating raw fruits on an empty stomach (some people think it a load of bollocks whilst others swear by it). I myself, fall with the latter. Of course not of blind faith – I’ve been having raw fruit-only breakfasts for the last FEW days and already, I’m feeling a difference! Honestly people, I feel great. You too, should try it! Deli, if you’re reading this, please give it a go! You might think that after an hour or so your stomach will start grumbling and eating you from the inside out but it’s actually the opposite! I’ve never received so much energy from any other breakfast! Not even oats! Sorry, too many exclamation marks for a paragraph on fruit but I feel so strongly about my new discovery that I just cant help myself! I really don’t think I’ll ever have anything else for breakfast – well maybe pancakes but they can be the once in a lifetime (and by lifetime I mean tomorrow) exception! ! ! ! !!!! I

Excuse me while I move to a tropical island to become one of those women who just eat 20 bananas a day.

easy and delicious crumbled veges

Fruit and vegetables are expensive in Japan but not for me! Turns out living in the middle of nowhere can come with a bagful of free perks. In particular, a bag filled with eggplant and asparagus. So, how does one single lady eat the same freakin’ veges for a week without pulling out her hair?!  Panko is the answer. When I saw Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) at my local supermarket (which btw is the worst supermarket of all time – for example they only have apples and oranges for fruit – dont get me started on every other food category on the planet) I remembered the chefs at my previous restaurant job using Panko to coat  arancini (delicious deep-fried risotto balls). Sick of stir-frying, curryfying, pastafying (without the pasta) my vegetables, I opted for ze crunch factor. Because errybody loves crunchy food, especially yours truly but I can’t say the same for oil. So, I came up with this simple vegetarian recipe for y’all.
And by “for y’all”, I mean for myself but you can try it too.

a little olive oil
1 free-range egg
dash of milk
salt and pepper
About 1/2 cup or more of Panko or regular breadcrumbs
1 tbsp dried parsley
vegetables of choice: I used 2 eggplants and some asparagus

Preheat oven (I used a toaster oven) to 180C

Then set up a coating station with:
an oven-proof dish greased with a little olive oil
egg, milk, salt and pepper mixed together in a small bowl
and a wide bowl containing your panko and dried parsley

Roll veges first in egg mixture, then panko and lastly, place on greased dish

Bake veges for about 20 or so minutes, turning every so often –  keep a close watch as Panko can burn quite easily.

I served mine with a warm napoletana sauce (just 100% canned peeled tomatoes, heated in a frying pan with no oil)
Enjoy xxx