Welcome to a pasta time where you can enjoying pasta but in a vegan and healthy way.
Macaroni? Maybe your mind is immediately connected to the abundance of cheese and cream which adds an extra creamy texture to the macaroni. But I'll distract you with something else. Ah, of course. Don't worry, I'm an expert at that. To present something new but still delicious. Because something new has been agreed by my husband and my nephew that it tastes good.
Well, of course I won't post a new menu that fails to combine. Luckily and I feel blessed, there are rarely any menus that fail to combine so I can minimize wasting food.
What if macaroni was served in a simple and healthier way with plant-based ingredients? No need to be afraid to try. It will feel fine even though it may not be familiar to us especially to me and my husband.
With several adaptations to cooking methods and local ingredients, these things will make the new menu more easily accepted by the palate.
So, for this time I will serve macaroni with some vegetables and tofu. As seasoning, I use peanut butter as a sauce.
Peanut Butter Sauce As My Comfort Taste
Seasoning is the most important thing. So, as someone who serves food for the family, we must understand the character of the family members' tongues. From their comfort taste, we can adjust the food, even though the menu is new but it won't be bad.
Macaroni salad is not something my family is familiar with. So, I added a strong taste through peanut butter sauce.
For the record, I don't have fresh peanuts. So, I just peanut butter for an instant way. But if there is a supply of fresh peanuts, I will choose to use fresh ones.
I will mix the peanut butter with garlic, sweet soy sauce, and chili flakes. If you use savory sweet sauce, you have to add brown sugar to make them taste balanced.
For the pasta, you can replace macaroni using another type of pasta as well. But I prefer macaroni because I feel like it doesn't make me very full. So it's your choice.
The Ingredients
For 2-3 Servings
- 1/2 cup of macaroni
- 3 stalks of asparagus
- 2 small carrots or a big carrot
- 5 cherry tomatoes
- (optional) 50 grams of tofu
- (optional) roasted peanuts, can be replaced with almonds
- 1/2-1/4 cup of water
Seasoning
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Cooking Instructions
Prepare Tofu
Cut tofu into small cubes. Then, brush with enough olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander. If you prepare for salty tofu, then you need to sprinkle them with salt.
Roast Tofu
Heat an air fryer or oven. This time I used an air fryer for better crispy texture compared to the oven. This is because the function of the air fryer is claimed to replace frying.
I used 15 minutes per side of tofu. You can adjust it to your equipment.
Boiled Pasta and Veggies
Bring water to a boil. Then, add pasta and vegetables. Add 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook for about 10 minutes (adjust to the type of pasta and vegetables you use).
Make Peanut Butter Sauce
Preheat a little olive oil. Then, add chopped garlic. Stir briefly, then add sweet soy sauce. Keep stirring until they look caramelized. Be careful they get burnt.
Add peanut butter and water, also salt and chili flakes. The water dosage is adjusted to the desired texture consistency. Keep stirring until they are completely mixed. Then turn off the fire.
For the tip, you can mix soy sauce with peanut butter first before mixing them with garlic in the cooking pan.
Combaine All Ingredients
In the final step, add boiled pasta and veggies into sauce pan. Steer them well.
SERVED
Oh, my bad! I forgot about the roasted tofu in the air fryer which was cooked earlier than the macaroni.
Apart from that, I was also in a hurry to catch up on time because the sun was about to completely set. I won't get maximum food photography results if I miss the moment the sunlight has run out.
I only realized that I forgot to mix in the tofu when I finished the dish and looked at my phone gallery. Really bad.
Anyway, serve them while they're warm. If it cools, the taste of the sauce will not be optimal and the texture of the peanut butter will become dry.
I hope the way I serve macaroni this time is good a new inspiration for you to serve pasta.
❤️❤️❤️ See you, Veggie Lovers!
Thank you for reading my blog and reblog if you want my blog this time worthy of reading by others.
Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari
Anggrek Lestari is an Indonesian fiction writer who has published two major books. Now She is a full-time content creator. She has a goal to share life, poem, and food content that makes others happy and can get inspiration.
Contact Person: [email protected]
Discord: anggreklestari#3009