ZENB is an online plant-based food brand. Its key product is yellow pea pasta – the UK’s first pasta made entirely from yellow peas.
The pasta comes in four familiar shapes – spaghetti, penne, fusilli and macaroni – as well as ZENB’s own Pasta Agile shape with precision-cut surfaces for al dente texture and absorption of flavour from whatever sauces your adding to your pasta dish. ZENB makes their own sauces (with flavours well worth absorbing) as well as a variety of instant noodle style lunch pots called Agile Bowls.
I received a range of ZENB products to sample recently and must admit I was impressed far more than I expected to be.
Here’s the lowdown.
ZENB’s pasta is tasty but not overly flavoursome. So you can replace it with regular carb-y pasta without compromising or drastically altering the flavour profile of a dish.
Texturally, this yellow pea pasta different than regular pasta – a little more prone to go mushy – the Agile shape is considerably less likely to do so than the traditional shapes are. I didn’t mind the texture and certainly didn’t find it off-putting. In fact, I kinda liked it but reckoned I should bring up that this yellow pea pasta is not exactly like typical wheat and grain-based options.
What was great about eating yellow pea pasta was that it was more filling for longer than typical wheat and grain-based options, minus that bloated feeling that so often comes with eating a big plate of carbs. It cooks pretty much just like regular pasta (maybe taking a teensy bit longer to cook than what I’m accustomed to with grain pasta).
Yellow pea pasta is a good source of iron that’s high in fibre, plant-based protein, potassium, and phosphorus. Gluten intolerant folks, people with diabetes, and anybody who just wants fewer carbohydrates and more plant protein in their lives – rejoice!
The ZENB sauces I tried are really delicious – as good or better than any other pre-made store-bought sauces I’ve had. I especially liked the Sweet Carrot Tomato and Oregano sauce. It went down a dream with the ZENB spaghetti. Ingredients were all natural and simple. You don’t need a degree in chemistry to decipher what’s written on the packaging. For example, the Sweet Carrot sauces contains “carrot with skin (30%), water, onion, tomato puree (14%), olive oil, celery, garlic, sea salt, basil, lemon juice concentrate, rice vinegar, mushroom powder, ground black pepper, and dried oregano (0.03%)”. Not bad!
Thumbs up for the Agile Bowls as well. The just-add-hot-water noodle pots feature the Agile Pasta along with packets of dried seasoning and olive oil. These easy-to-cook parcels turned out to be a reliable lunchtime go-to for me. The 220g pot (with water) was just short of the amount food I’d usually want for a full meal, but one of these pots with some fruit or other snack was ample enough. I tore through my gifted stash of Agile Bowls during a string of working days with short lunch breaks last week. Each time I caught myself pausing to actually savour what I was eating before scraping the paper pot clean to enjoy every last bit of yumminess. Faves were the Vegetable Thai Curry, the Cauliflower Tikka Masala, and the Zesty Garlic Spinach. I’m sure I’ll buy more of these now that I’ve run out.
The pasta, the sauces, the bowls are all vegan and gluten-free and packaged using fully recyclable materials.
Check out all the ZENB treats at zenb.co.uk.
