Classic Chinese Noodle Dish with Half the Sodium

 

A Classic Chinese Noodle Dish with Half the Sodium (and More Than Twice the Fiber!)

EatingWell

One thing I love about working in the EatingWell Test Kitchen is that we can make just about any recipe healthier. Even though Asian food in general has a healthier halo (often lean meat or fish and lots of vegetables cooked with little fat, over rice or noodles), it's easy to end up with a plate piled with chunks of fried meat drowning in a sauce sweeter than fake maple syrup over a pile of white rice.

Take, for instance, one of my favorite Chinese recipes -- Dan Dan Noodles. I first tasted this Sichuan dish of ground pork and noodles in a spicy broth at P.F. Chang's China Bistro, a popular Asian restaurant chain. It seemed healthy when I dug in, and when you look at P.F. Chang's nutrition analysis, things start off all right: 270 calories and 7 grams of fat (1 gram saturated) per serving -- this is, of course, only if I ate 1 of the 4 servings that came to my table as a single order. But the next two numbers were what bothered me: 1 gram of fiber and 1,388 milligrams of sodium. One serving has 60 percent of my recommended intake of sodium for the day!

I knew we in the EatingWell Test Kitchen could do better, and one of our recipe developers, Carolyn Casner, came through. Our version has a few more calories and grams of fat, but we were able to up the fiber to 6 grams and slash the sodium down to 633 mg per serving. (Plus it only takes 30 minutes to prepare.) Now that's a dish I felt better about digging into!

Brothy Chinese Noodles

This dish was inspired by Chinese Dan Dan noodles -- ground pork and noodles in a spicy broth. We use ground turkey and omit the traditional Sichuan peppercorns for convenience, but add hot sesame oil. Use toasted sesame oil instead if you want mild noodles.

Makes 6 servings, about 1 1/3 cups each.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Recipe Ingredients:

2 tablespoons hot sesame oil (see Note), divided

1 pound 93 percent-lean ground turkey

1 bunch scallions, sliced, divided

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

3/4 cup water

3 cups thinly sliced bok choy

8 ounces dried Chinese noodles (see note)

3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 small cucumber, sliced into matchsticks, for garnish

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add ground turkey, all but 2 tablespoons of the scallions, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring and breaking up the turkey, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

2. Add broth, water, bok choy, noodles, soy sauce, vinegar and the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Return the turkey mixture to the pan and stir to combine. Serve garnished with the reserved 2 tablespoons scallions and cucumber (if using).

Recipe Tips and Notes:

1. Ingredient notes: Hot sesame oil can be found in the Asian-food section of most supermarkets.

2. Dried Chinese noodles, often used in Chinese soups and lo mein, cook up quickly and can be found in the Asian-food section of most supermarkets.

Recipe Nutrition:

Per serving: 292 calories; 10 g fat (2 g sat, 2 g mono); 43 mg cholesterol; 32 g carbohydrate; 0 g added sugars; 22 g protein; 6 g fiber; 705 mg sodium; 503 mg potassium

Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin A (32 percent daily value), Vitamin C (22 percent dv), Iron (20 percent dv)

2 Carbohydrate Servings

Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 vegetable, 2 lean meat, 1 fat

 

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Classic Chinese Noodle Dish with Half the Sodium

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