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Food fulfills so much more than just its innate purpose of filling and nutrients, it has the ability to alter our emotions and connect us with others. For this week's challenge, Food as an Emotion, I choose to make a creamy vegan pasta to emulate the love and comfort this dish brings me when my mom makes healthy food for me after a long day.
After finding a love for healthy eating around middle school, my mom has cooked delicious healthy meals for the family, such as a meatless version of the classic Greek dish Moussaka, preparing a special veggie burger for me at family barbecues, or finding new and delicious lentil or chickpea pastas for family dinners. These meals not only nourish me, but make me feel included with the family even though our palates are so different.
This food pyramid displays different tiers of emotions felt while eating a healthy meal.
In class, we are reading the book With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, a story of a girl who has a passion for cooking and her family. Emoni has been through a lot in her young life, but she always makes an effort to make special meals for her 'Buela and best friend Angelica whenever she has the chance.
The first time Emoni cooked was when she was alone as a toddler. Of course, when her 'Buela found out she was shocked, but after the initial fear of burning the house down, when Emoni's 'Buela tasted her dish she recalled "it was the best thing she'd ever eaten" and that it reminded her of a "memory of Puerto Rico she hadn't thought about in years" that "cradled her close" (Acevedo 16). The power that food had on Emoni's 'Buela is evident in this moment, it transported her to a different time from her past.
The symbolic properties of food is not limited to this singular moment, for example the first time my mom surprised me by making a special veggie burger for me at a family barbeque I felt filled with love and warmth because I knew that I was thought of and cared for.
With this, I'd like to introduce my recipe for this week: Vegan Tofu Pasta. This was my first time having this dish, and I'd say it was a huge success! It was inspired by the many veggie pastas that my mom has made for family dinners in the past.
I started by boiling water and cooking chickpea pasta - a new favorite of mine!
Then I chopped the shallots and garlic to be cooked on the stove.
I added all of the sauce ingredients to a blender to make the sauce.
After cooking the shallots and garlic, I added the sauce mixture to the hot pan.
Then, I added the pasta and spinach to the sauce.
All done! I added some fresh pepper to the top of this deliciously creamy pasta dish.
All close up!
Creamy Vegan Tofu Pasta
Original Recipe here
Ingredients:
160 g block firm Tofu
1 1/2 heaped tsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
Large pinch salt
125 ml pasta water
125 ml plant based milk
2 portions spaghetti
1 1/2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 1/2 small shallots finely diced
Glug olive oil
50 g spinach
Instructions:
Blend all of the tofu mix together & set aside, the more black pepper the better
Pop the spaghetti onto boil in heavily salted water
Fry off the minced shallots and garlic in a pan with olive oil, after 4-5 minutes add the creamy sauce along with the 250ml pasta water and mix together, KEEP THE HEAT LOW. If the pan gets too hot it’ll ruin the sauce
Add the cooked pasta, fresh spinach and mix together
Top each bowl with more salt & pepper to taste and a glug of extra virgin olive oil
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