Low Fat Vegetarian Pasta Recipe: Pasta Pepporanata

Pepporanata – Cooking this is easier than pronouncing it!

December 10th, 2008 Madhuram Posted in Italian Cooking, Vegan Pasta Dishes | Print This Recipe | 16 Comments »

This is yet another low fat pasta recipe from the book 1001 Low Fat Vegetarian Recipes. Earlier I had prepared the Curried Pasta and Vegetables from this book. This pasta dish is also very simple to prepare, healthy without heavy sauces and cheese, but at the same time very flavorful also.

Ingredients

Red pepper, sliced1 and 1/2 cup

Green pepper, sliced1 and 1/2 cup

Yellow pepper, sliced1 and 1/2 cup

Onion, large, sliced1 cup

Garlic cloves, minced8

Olive oil3 tablespoons (I used only 2)

Water3 tablespoons

Salt and pepperto taste

Spaghetti, cooked, warm8 ounces (I used Barilla Whole Grain Spaghetti)

Parmesan cheese, grated1/4 cup (optional. So I omitted it)

Procedure 1 Cook pasta according to the package directions. I didn’t have a tall saucepan to cook the spaghetti, so I broke it into half. I cooked it for 8 minutes and it had the perfect texture.

2 Saute peppers, onions and garlic in oil in large skillet for 2 to 3 minutes.

3 Add water; cook covered, over medium-high heat until soft, 2 to 3 minutes.

4 Stir in sugar; cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat until mixture is very soft and browned, about 20 minutes.

5 Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6 Toss with spaghetti; sprinkle with cheese if desired.

My Notes 1 I have cooked whole wheat penne pasta (Asparagus and Lemon Pepper Pasta) earlier and it clearly tasted different than it’s white counterpart. It took quite sometime to develop a liking for the whole wheat taste. So I was expecting the same with the spaghetti also, because I have not tasted whole grain spaghetti before. But I was totally surprised because it didn’t taste like anything I expected. It was really good. This pasta is made with 51% whole wheat and other whole grain flours, so you can enjoy the benefits of whole grains without compromising the taste. It’s an excellent source of fiber and protein.

2 Don’t be tempted to omit the sugar in this pasta recipe because it makes the vegetables and the onions to caramelize and that in turn gives a nice flavor to the dish. If you think that the dish is sweet, you can spice it up at the end by adding black pepper powder.

3 If you have some left over peppers, try these chili fries. Unlike other fritters which use all purpose flour or chick pea flour for the dipping batter, this recipe uses whole wheat flour. I also added some rice flour to make it crispier.