I grew up eating vermicelli as a dessert and I’ve loved it. It’s simple and it’s an easy dish to rustle up on cold days.

Described as angel hair, vermicelli is a carb-heavy pasta product. It’s particularly good before long runs and on days when you need extra carbs. I made it this week because my mum loves siroh/soji and I had run out of Taystee Wheat.

I must admit, this is the first time I’ve made vermicelli like this because I wanted to eliminate the sugars and lower the fats. And while my method may be unconventional, the taste certainly isn’t.

The brand of pasta that I use is Makarna Pasta purely because it is made from wheat semolina. There is no flours added to the product but it does contain gluten.

Did you know: 100 g vermicilli contains more than 350 kcal, fats 1.7 g, protein 11 g and sugars of 2.5 g.

Ingredients for 2 portions

200 g vermicilli - I used almost half my bag which weigh’s in at 500 g

1 cup milk

2 tbsp unsalted butter

3 tsp Xylitol

1 tbsp raw honey - not the one from the squeeze bottle.

1 tsp elachi (cardamom)

Method.

1. Like you would make pasta, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add 1 tsp of oil and boil the vermicelli for 4 minutes. DO NOT BOIL LONGER THAN THIS.

2. In a pan on low heat, melt butter and Xylitol together.

3. Add elachi to infuse the flavor into the butter.

4. Drain the pasta, give it a wash in cold water and drop all of it into the hot pan. You will notice a crystallization of sorts with the sugar and the butter. Don’t be disturbed by it. That will go away eventually.

5. Add the milk immediately and cover with a splatter cover.

6. Lower the stove temperature to the absolute minimum heat, and let it all steam for 12-15 minutes.

7. When all the milk is absorbed, you can garnish with nutmeg and serve immediately.