Low Fat Vegan Cooking

Dan Dan Mein with Kale on Brown Rice Noodles

Dan Dan Mein

I had intended to post a recipe for pizza today, but we got flooring on sale for the living room of our unfinished house, and it took all week to work on it and we’re still not done!  It started raining Friday and we moved all the furniture that was out on the deck back inside, wiping it off as we set it down.  So now we have a living room full of stacked boxes with the couch and dining room table accessible.  It is hard to find things.

I cooked a lot of low fat vegan fast food this week.  Mostly we had a vegetable, usually a green, with a starch, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, or brown rice.  We used bottled sauces, and had fruit for dessert.  Meanwhile the ingredients for more complicated recipes passed their prime, and then became unsavory.

At least they will do some good for us eventually in the compost pile.

One day i made Dan Dan Mein for the first time.  It is pretty fast.  You can finish the greens and make the sauce while the pasta is cooking and still have time for some dishes or other kitchen tasks. I will share that recipe with you, but i don’t have a picture.  I didn’t think it would come out well enough the first time, and we ate the whole thing in one sitting.

My husband figured out how to make his version of Dan Dan Mein many years ago and shared his discovery with several of us, none of whom was impressed.  He boiled refined wheat pasta, and stirred peanut butter into it!  He figured those were the key ingredients.

This recipe is a little more complicated.  Many of the dan dan recipes called for “Chinese Black Mushrooms.”  I didn’t see any fresh or dried in our large Asian Market.  Maybe they are called something else.  I used cremini mushrooms but they didn’t make a happy addition.  I cooked them separately, and ate a couple of bites with the noodles and sauce, but no.  We had A Choy, in the bok choy family.  This was a little old, and had blossomed with the characteristic broccoli type yellow small flowers.  I cut off the soft spots, and a few outer yellow leaves, and the rest was still crisp and white or green.  This went really well with the rest of the dish.  Next time i tried kale, and we really liked the juxtaposition of kale and peanut butter.

I found a chili garlic sauce without oil (it took a lot of label reading) but when it came time to cook, i forgot i had it, and used Thai Kitchen red curry paste.

Although Dan Dan Mein is higher in fat, i will be making it regularly, as my husband will gladly eat it.  At this point, i am just happy if he eats something vegan.

Dan Dan Mein

Makes 4 servings

Preparation about 20 minutes

Can be made ahead

Freezes well without the scallions

To begin:

16 ounces brown rice or whole wheat pasta

Chinese or other greens such as bok choy or kale

Sauce:

1/2 c. water

Vegan low fat bouillon for 2 c. liquid

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 T. sake or mirin

1 T. peanut butter

1 T. tahini

2 T. rice vinegar

1 T. low sodium tamari

1 t. sesame oil (optional)

1 T. vegan sugar

1 – 2 T. chili-garlic sauce or chili paste

Juice from 2 limes, about 2 T.

Garnish:

4 scallions, thinly sliced

To make:

Cook pasta.  Chop and briefly cook greens, and drain.

Meanwhile, make the sauce:

Heat water, bouillon, garlic, and sake to boiling and reduce heat to medium and boil 5 minutes.  Stir in nut butters.  Add vinegar, tamari, optional sesame oil, sugar, and chili sauce, and heat about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in lime juice.  Pour over pasta and add greens and mix.

Garnish with scallions.

Adapted from Vegan Appetite, although i looked at several recipes, both vegan and omni. 

Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:

Per serving – 520 calories/12.1 g protein (9.3%)/8.4 g fat (14.4%)