Gout-Friendly Unsalted Summer Spaghetti

My gout has left me imprisoned at home for almost a week, and so I was forced to make do with a lot of saltless, purine-less and basically, tasteless fare. If you read the literature about gout, especially coming from the internet, it can be confusing. Some say you can eat broccoli, some say you can't. Others say to avoid strawberries, others say its a good remedy. Others say apples work wonders, others say it doesn't do anything. Caffeine is bad especially in coffee, but a lot take the side of tea.

So to be on the safe side, I follow a strict regimen of apples, pears, carrot and celery sticks, ginger, garlic, toasted white bread and cranberry juice. I would go for fresh berries (except strawberry) if they're available since a majority of people agree that it does wonders not just for gout, but for the kidneys as well. These seem to be consistently on the list of what can be eaten if you have gout. Everything else I avoid, especially salt.

But I can't munch on carrot sticks for an entire week. So when it wasn't too painful to stand up for extended periods of time, I went to the kitchen and made what I call my Unsalted Summer Spaghetti which, surprisingly, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The secret is to layer in lots of flavors like the zing of ginger, the tang of lime, and the crisp balmy flavor of mint to make it work. The gout-friendliness doesn't only come from the ingredients used, but also it was meant to be cooked for the least amount of time possible standing up!

For about 150 grams of spaghetti, I used:

3/4 teaspoon of shredded ginger

1 clove garlic chopped

1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 small carrot, shaved and coarsely shredded

1 small lime, before slicing it up, grate the rinds for about 1/2 teaspoon of zest

4 medium mint leaves, julienned

roughly 1 teaspoon cracked peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon of thyme

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

some shaved parmesan cheese

Cook noodles according to package instructions (except for the part when they tell you to add salt to the water) and set aside.

In a sauce pan over low heat, add olive oil and saute the ginger enough so that it fuses with the oil. Add the lime zest and garlic and before the garlic turns yellow to light brown, place the carrots in and stir for about two minutes or until they cook. Stir in the pepper, thyme, nutmeg and lime juice. Give it a good stir and let sit for a minute before adding the pasta to coat with the mixture.

Top with shaved parmesan cheese for a little indulgence. Some say its bad, I say a little under half of what you normally eat is fine.