One of the hardest things about maintaining my weight (which is almost harder than losing weight but that’s a whole other story) is not giving into my cravings for mass amounts of fried Asian noodles. I LOVE noodles. I love Thai noodle dishes, such as Pad See Ew and Pad Thai, I love Japanese noodles, such as Udon and Ramen, and I love Chinese noodle recipes like Dan Dan Mian. Another dish I particularly enjoy, but haven’t had much of in the US, are Singapore noodles.
I’m not sure exactly what inspired me to make a healthy version of Singapore noodles but I’m glad I was. I’m so excited for you to try my version of healthy Singapore noodles. This recipe will blow your mind–whether you’re already an avid Singapore noodles fan or not.
Healthy Singapore Noodles Recipe
If you don’t know what Singapore noodles are, it’s probably because you haven’t been to Singapore. However, according to Maggie over at Omnivore’s Cookbook, Singapore noodles aren’t originally from Singapore. It sounds like the source isn’t quite clear although some speculate that it’s from Malaysia (which is extremely close to Singapore), while others posit it’s originally from Hong Kong. Wherever it’s from, I am grateful that it’s become such a popular dish.
The first time I had Singapore noodles was sometime in Singapore. I can’t exactly remember when this was, as I’ve visited Singapore a few times, but I made it a point to always order Singapore noodles and Laksa (an incredible curry noodle soup). Singapore noodles are quite a simple dish–they’re stir-fried vermicelli noodles seasoned with curry powder–but they have a strong, distinctive taste. They’re rather spicy, because of the hot curry powder, so reader beware. But they’re so worth it. Just use less curry powder if you’re worried 🙂
How to Make Singapore Noodles Healthy
So back to the original point of this whole post–how exactly do you make Singapore noodles healthy? The restaurant version is full of oil and carbs. While carbs aren’t inherently bad, portion control is everything, and most restaurant versions have several servings of noodles in them. I.e. way, way more carbohydrates than you should be eating in a single meal. It’s easy enough to reduce the amount of oil used but I was really struggling to figure out how to make this dish lower carb. This required a “dry” noodle to soak up all the flavors, so zucchini noodles were out of the question (they sweat water like nobody’s business).
Enter Palmini pasta, my new favorite vegetable noodle alternative. Palmini is made out of hearts of palm, with only 20 calories, 4 g of carbs, and 2g of fiber per serving. They’re pretty popular with the F-Factor crowd on Instagram (as a reminder, the F-Factor diet espouses a high-fiber lifestyle), which is how I first came across them. Now, they are more expensive than I would like but they make a truly excellent noodle alternative. I was a little apprehensive at first–I’ve tried noodle alternatives like shirataki in the past and have completely despised them. But I finally bit the bullet, despite them being more expensive than I would like, and love them! They do smell rather “hearts of palm-y” but you can easily get rid of the smell by soaking them in cold water for 10-15 minutes.
Excited to dive into my healthy Singapore noodles recipe? Me too!!
Recipe: Healthy Singapore Noodles
Healthy Singapore Noodle Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 can Palmini 400g
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 1 jalapeno diced
- 1 shallot sliced
- 1 garlic clove finely diced OR 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 green onions chopped
- 4 oz shrimp or tofu
- 1-2 tbsp canola oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the sauce
- 3/4 tbsp hot curry powder I recommend using the one from Penzey's spices
- 3/4 tbsp mirin easily found at any Asian supermarket
- 1 tbsp fish sauce I recommend the Thai "Tiparos" brand
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
Instructions
- Let's start by getting your Palmini ready. Drain the water out of the can, and then place into a bowl with cold water (enough to cover the Palmini), and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
- Whilst waiting, slice your bell peppers, shallots, dice the jalapeno and garlic, and chop the green onions. Separate the green onions and place in a small bowl.
- Now,prepare your sauce--mix together the mirin, fish sauce and soy sauce in a small bowl and set aside for now.
- It's time to cook! Heat a medium sized frying pan with some canola oil and wait until the oil heats up. If you throw some salt in the oil, and it starts sizzling, that's when you know the oil is hot enough.
- Now, add your shrimp or tofu and cook for about 5-minutes. I like to add garlic, salt and pepper to my stir-fried shrimp or tofu. Once your protein is cooked, place onto a plate and set aside until later.
- Using the same pan, put in the garlic, shallots, bell pepper and jalapeno. Cook until soft, approximately 5-7 minutes.
- Once the above vegetables have cooked, make some space in your pan, and add some more canola oil. Add in the Palmini (which should be drained of any remaining liquid) about 30-seconds after adding in the oil.
- Add your curry powder and sauce into the pan and mix everything together until well covered. Add the shrimp, or tofu, back in and cook for another 3-5 minutes, until the sauce has almost all absorbed into the vegetable mixture.
- Transfer the Singapore noodles onto a plate and sprinkle with green onions. Enjoy!
Notes
Use less hot curry powder if you aren't used to spicy food.
Please be sure to tag me on Instagram if you make this fantastic healthy Singapore noodle recipe. And don’t be scared to give me feedback! If one of the instructions is confusing, I want to know about it. I want to make sure that it’s easy to follow my recipes.
Honestly yours,
Alice
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