With its colourful green pepper and carrot, this is quite a tasty little dish. Total calories are about 200. Kinpira is the name of a Japanese cooking technique: Food is sautéed then simmering in a minimal amount of liquid. Inspired by a popular post at Cookpad (en.cookpad.com), a Japanese recipe-sharing site. (All about shirataki: check my blog.)

6 oz (175 g) white or brown shirataki, rinsed
1 tbsp (15 mL) toasted sesame oil
1 each: small green bell pepper, small carrot, cut in matchsticks
1 tbsp (15 mL) each: soy sauce, mirin
Sea salt to taste
Shichimi togarashi to taste
Toasted sesame seeds to taste

Add shirataki to small pan of boiling, salted water. When water returns to boil, cook 1 minute. Drain. Line baking sheet with paper towels. Spread out shirataki to air-dry. Cut strands into manageable lengths.

Heat 10-inch (25 cm) skillet on medium 1 minute. Add oil. Add shirataki. Cook, stirring often, 1 minute, or until hot and well coated. Add green pepper and carrot. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in soy sauce and mirin. Cover and cook 1 minute, or until vegetables are tender-crisp and most of liquid evaporates. Uncover and shake pan to evaporate any excess liquid. Add salt.

Serve sprinkled with shichimi togarashi and sesame seeds.

Makes 1 serving.

• The shirataki for this recipe are measured drained. Water amounts vary by package. About 10% to 20% may be water weight.
• Don’t overcook the veggies; they should still be crisp.
• You can use low-sodium soy sauce.
• Mirin is sweetened rice cooking wine. Some supermarkets sell it.
• Shichimi togarashi is a popular Japanese spice blend. It is sold in some supermarkets, usually in the sushi section. The blend includes chilies, orange peel, sesame seeds, pepper, seaweed and ginger.

Tested in Imperial