I stumbled upon this recipe on Super Bowl day. I made some yummy vegetable sandwiches. And I wanted to make a side of simple spaghetti but did not want the boring boiled pasta with pasta sauce. I came across this recipe from Tasty videos (one of my favorites). It is completely vegan. But kids relished it as if they were eating some cheesy pasta! My 2 year old was gobbling this up like anything! Such a simple recipe, yet so delicious and flavorful.
You can make it on stove top. That is how I made it the first time. Even on stove top it is a one pot pasta recipe! But as any other recipe I tried it in my favorite Instant Pot (IP) during one of the working days. And it still tasted the same. I will be giving instructions for both.
You will need:
Oil:
1 tbsp oil (olive, vegetable or canola)
Aromatics:
1 small onion or 1/2 large onion chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
Vegatables :
2-3 cups of cherry tomatoes, halved
(you can add other veggies too, but to keep it simple just tomatoes are sufficient. I have tried them with mushrooms as well, and they tasted yummy!)
Sauce:
1 14 oz can of coconut milk
2-3 cups of vegetable broth (I used 1/2 of 32 oz vegetable broth pack)
Pasta:
16 oz pack of any type of pasta (I used spaghetti)
Seasonings:
Salt per taste
Crushed black pepper per taste
Add ons:
Greens (I used tatsoi, swiss chard from my Gardyn, you can use spinach, mustard greens)
Basil (from my Gardyn)
2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
Method:
Heat the oil in IP in saute mode. Add in the aromatics, saute for a bit. Add in the cherry tomatoes. Pour in the sauce ingredients, pasta and seasonings. Close the lid and cook at manual high pressure mode for 3 minutes. Let it go for natural pressure release for 10 minutes and then do manual pressure release.
TIPS:
- You should go for manual pressure release at 10 minutes. This ensures your pasta does not become soggy. If you close the lid and come back at the end of the day, pasta would be edible but mushy.
- If you want to enjoy the pasta immediately use just the right amount of broth/liquid, just to cover the pasta in IP. Otherwise it would be too soupy.
- If you plan to make it in the morning and are going to eat it in the evening, then I would suggest adding more liquid and make it soupy, like here, because by evening the liquid would be soaked up by the pasta. Or else pasta would be very dry.
Stove top instructions:
You can follow the same steps on stove top. Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 10 minutes. The pasta gets cooked in the sauce, retains all the flavors and all gets done in 10 minutes!
At the end add in the greens, basil and nutritional yeast. All are optional though.
Slurrrrppp... Slurrrrrpppp...
ENJOY!