Konnyaku Acqua Pazza with Root Veggies

Want to lose weight without starving yourself? Try this! How, you might ask? Konnyaku (aka konjak) is the answer! Konnyaku is a Japanese superfood rich in minerals, especially calcium and high in fibre.

The fantastic news is that it is extremely low in calories and can expand up to 20 times its size in your intestines.

This means you feel fuller for longer and you can say sayonara to starvation for your weight loss journey! In Japan, we call it “ bloom for stomach” because the fibre in konnyaku helps regulate your bowel movements by binding unhealthy toxins together and to expel it from our body! There are so many fabulous benefits to konnyaku and we really should be eating it more often! So why not try…

Konnyaku Acqua Pazza with Root Veggies

It is a super alkalising and satisfying main meal but konnyaku doesn’t have any real flavour on its own.

It is always better served the next day as it absorbs the flavours of the dish it is being served in.

This recipe was born when I was wondering how to make vegan acua pazza, the Italian dish without fish but still rich in flavour.

Garlic, tomato and root veggies with vegetarian stock just wasn’t good enough for me.

So I added olives for extra flavour and then capers.

YUM! The konnyaku absorbed the beautiful flavourful broth and I served it with a garlic daikon rice.

Fabulous combination! This recipe comes from my latest book, Japanese Superfoods.

For this recipe, I suggest using lasagna sheet shaped konnyaku because it will absorb all the yummy flavours much faster You can also use other types of root vegetables such as daikon and potato however, don’t use two root vegetables with a sharp flavour such as daikon and swede as it becomes a little too bitter.

Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 200g swede cut into bite size pieces
• 200g parsnip cut into bite size pieces
• 100g carrot, cut into bite size pieces
• 200g konnyaku, sliced and per boiled for 3 minutes
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 200ml white wine
• 400ml water
• 2 tsp vegetable stock powder
• 24 black olives (about 90g)
• 1 tbsp capers
• 4 tomatoes, cut into bite-size pieces (300g)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp Chilli
• 1/4 tsp soy sauce or tamari
• Half bunch parsley root and leaves

Method

1. Place garlic, root of Italian parsley and olive oil in a sauce pan and heat over low heat and cook until slightly golden colour.
2. Add all root vegetable, konnyaku and tomato and cook for 3 mins over medium-high heat.
3. Add rest of the ingredients except the parsley for garnish and simmer until the vegetables are soft.
4. Garnish with Italian parsley.

Konnyaku Lasagna sheet I used lasagne sheets from Slendier instead of a konnyaku sheet which you need to slice and pre-boil, It is easier to cook and tastier to use konnyaku lasagne sheets since they are pre-cooked and have wavy lines on the surface so that they can absorb flavour faster.

A key for skonnyaku cooking is to let it absorb the flavour, which need long simmering. look at these lines! This baby can absorb flavour so quickly!

To learn more about the health benefits of konnyaku and learn all the tips for eating and preparing it you can simply grab your own copy of Japanese Superfoods or top 3 Japanese superfoods for natural weight loss

This recipe is from my vegan cookbook “Japanese superfoods“
If you want to cook more easy and tasty Japanese vegan meals using Japanese superfoods – real key for Japanese health, grab my latest edition Now!