Description: One of 5 A Day pasta. You would hardly see this pasta in a restaurant but it is actually nicer than you would expect. A touch of Japanese flavour, “soy sauce butter” : バター醤油… one of the most popular seasoning combinations in Japanese cuisine.
Serves: 2　
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• Spaghetti – 180g
• Garlic – chopped, 2 cloves
• Bacon – chopped, 4 rashers or 80g
• Okra – chopped diagonally, 16 pieces or 160g
• Olive oil – 1 tablespoon
• Ground black pepper – ½ teaspoon
• Unsalted butter – 10g
• Soy sauce – 1 teaspoon

Method

1. Cook the spaghetti until al dente in plenty of boiling water with salt.
2. Meanwhile, heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan, then add garlic and bacon over low heat, stirring regularly.
3. Add okra, 50 mL water and black pepper, change the heat to medium then close the lid.
4. Add the hot drained pasta, butter and soy sauce to the frying pan. Mix well.

To serve: Sprinkle additional ground black pepper.

Nutritional Values Per Serving

Kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs	Fibre	Sugars	Salt	Saturated Fat	Vitamin B3	Folate
534.2	19.5g	22.5g	66.0g	5.7g	2.7g	1.4g	6.6g	6.6mg	48.6μg
26.7%	39.0%	32.1%	25.4%	18.9%	3.0%	23.7%	32.9%	50.8%	24.3%

Nutritional Tips

One of 5 A Day pasta. I believe this pasta appears rarely in restaurants, but it is actually nicer than you think. One of the most popular seasoning combinations in Japanese cuisine, “soy sauce butter” (バター醤油) is used. A touch of soy sauce butter makes this pasta very special. This flavour is not something you can actually imagine if you never tried it, you need to try to see how it actually tastes !

This dish is a balanced diet pasta as it provides a good amount of protein, carbs, and fats as macronutrients. Okra provides fiber, folate, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, and K, but also very low calories and no cholesterol. It is one of the good ingredients in a weight-reduction diet. Folate is beneficial to women during the preconception period to decrease the possibility of neural tube defects in the newborn. Gumbo pods contain edible seeds and have a unique texture. When they are fried, their sticky texture slightly goes away so if you are not big fan of the texture, this is a good way to cook and eat it.

Okra contains both soluble fibres and insoluble fibres. The soluble fibres help reduce blood glucose levels in the body with diabetes (Khosrozadeh et al, Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences, 2016 May;41(3):S63. ). The soluble fiber in okra (which is the jelly-like part) contributes to slower digestion through our intestines and prevents the sudden spike of blood glucose levels and cholesterol in our body. On the other hand, the insoluble fibres can contribute to smooth peristalsis (movement of the bowel) of digested food through the gut as it takes time to chew it. Once it reaches the stomach or the colon, it expands and can prevent constipation.

Due to the nature of butter and bacon, there are some fats. For a healthier option, you may consider using low-fat butter, and less bacon. Also, soy sauce and butter tend to contain a larger amount of salt, so bear in mind not to use too much of them or go for unsalted butter or reduced-sodium soy sauce to keep an eye on your daily salt intake.