Serves 5-6
Time: 1 hr
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~
Ingredients
80 g / 3 sticks celery (a)
2 large white potatoes (b)
270 g swede
170 g choko (c)
50 g dark green tips of leek (1 leek) (d)
250 g green drumhead cabbage (e)
180 g snake beans (f)
150 g of tinned lentils (g)
1 tbsp chives
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp citric acid
2 tbsp gluten free cornflour (h)
Foodnotes
(a) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(b) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes, or other large white potatoes with white flesh. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(c) Choko is also known as chayote, see photos here. Choko is low FODMAP for fructans at 1/2 cup (84 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App, 2018)
(d) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(e) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (94 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(f) Snake beans are low FODMAP at 1 cup (90 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(g) Tinned lentils, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/2 cup (46 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(h) Use gluten free cornflour, also known as cornstarch, which is a fine white flour. Corn flour from wheat contains wheat and gluten while yellow corn flour or maize flour is higher in salicylates.
Instructions
- Peel potato (double peel), choko and swede, and chop into small 1 cm cubes.
- Rinse dark green tips of leek, dark green tips of spring onion, chives, celery and cabbage and finely chop, keeping them separate.
- Rinse snake beans and chop them into 2 cm lengths.
- Drain tinned lentils, rinse well and weigh out 150 g.
- Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large pot on medium-high heat.
- Sauté celery for about 2 minutes until it goes soft.
- Add potato, choko and swede to the pot and cook for about 3 mins.
- Add dark green tips of leek and the lentils. Cook until leek goes soft. If ingredients stick to the bottom of the pot, add more canola oil.
- Add salt and citric acid to the pot.
- Cover the vegetables with water and then cover and bring to a simmer for 20 mins.
- Uncover and cook for another 5 mins, until the potato is soft.
- At this time start cooking the pasta/spaghetti according to the packet instructions.
- Take 1/4 cup of liquid out of the pot and mix with cornflour to for me a slurry before adding it back to the pot.
- Add the cabbage to the pot and cook for 5 mins. At this point the sauce should be thick with not much extra liquid.
- Stir through the spring onions and chives and cook for another minute.
- Serve with pasta or spaghetti for your choice. As there is no meat in the sauce, it can be stored in the fridge for about 5 days, eaten immediately or frozen.
Personal notes
My favourite pasta is the Ceres Organics Rice and Quinoa range which has spaghetti, penne and fusilli. I think they have the closest taste and texture to wheat pasta. The Casare brand wheat free brown rice spaghetti is also good, as are other brown rice spaghettis, if you can find them. Gluten free stores or specialist shops in the markets are usually the best place to look. At the supermarket (Coles and Woolworths in Australia), I have found the only failsafe, low FODMAP, wheat free/gluten free pasta to be Orgran Buckwheat spirals. These are ok fresh, and not so good on reheating or defrosting. Unfortunately, they also look like a plate of brains! Not very appealing. I use them as a back-up if I don’t have a chance to go to a specialty shop.
I dislike the taste of swede on its own. If you have a similar problem, try chopping the swede into really small pieces to hide its flavour.
This is the first time I’ve used snake beans. They’ve just recently been approved as low FODMAP at 90 g, and are lower in FODMAPs than green beans. Snake beans are not a strong flavour and I think they worked well. The pasta sauce is also not really full of flavour, but it is packed full of vegetables!