JAPANESE SPAGHETTI CARBONARA RECIPE WITHOUT CREAM

I have a slight intolerance to dishes with added cream or butter so when cooking at home I try to avoid adding these when possible. Some people find it hard to believe that you can make carbonara without cream however once you have good quality eggs and Parmesan cheese the sauce will be nice and creamy.

I love cooking Italian food at home. My favourite Italian cookbooks are from Jamie Oliver and Catherine Fulvio. Italian food is very popular in Japan, you'll find Italian restaurants in every town across Japan and Italian dishes on the menus in their family restaurants. The dishes are influenced by local Japanese tastes by adding some favourite Japanese ingredients such as seaweed.

Here's my carbonara recipe with a Japanese twist and no added cream.

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS:
300g spaghetti pasta
4 slices of bacon (cut into small square pieces)
Olive oil (for frying)
4 egg yolks (preferably free range or organic eggs)
50g Parmesan cheese (freshly grated)
Salt & pepper (to season)
Nori - roasted seaweed (to garnish)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil the pasta as per the packet instructions until it is cooked to your liking.

2. Fry the bacon pieces on a frying pan with olive oil until they are nice and crisp (but not overcooked and black in colour).

3. Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl. 

4. Before draining the pasta make sure you have the whisked egg yolks, grated Parmesan cheese, salt & pepper and nori at hand. Also set the table in advance as this dish should be served immediately.

4. Drain the cooked pasta leaving some water at the bottom of the saucepan. 

5. Quickly add the bacon to the pasta and stir. Immediately pour the egg yolk over the pasta and stir completely covering the pasta in the egg yolk. Now toss the grated Parmesan over the pasta and mix well.

6. Season with salt and pepper.

7. Serve on a place and garnish with some nori.

TIPS:

- When you mix the raw egg yolk into the pasta it's important that the saucepan is removed from the heat to avoid the egg scrambling. 

- The hot pasta will cook the raw egg yolk.

- To make the perfect creamy sauce you need to work quickly through the instructions from point 4 to 7.

NOTES:
Nori is a type of roasted seaweed which can be found in Asian supermarkets and also supermarkets such as Tesco, Dunnes and Superquinn. If you can't find nori sprinkles, then get a sheet of nori and using a grater make nori sprinkles.