For this month’s recipe I decided to use a veggie that we find very often in the vegetable markets around the island, the Thai aubergines or eggplants, if you prefer :).
I find it very interesting how there are a lot of people that just don’t like the taste of aubergine and for me it’s one of my favorites vegetables ever. I like it pretty much in any preparation but the baked ones are the best in my opinion. I find that they go very well with tomatoes and thought of making a pasta recipe with it.
The final version that I bring here goes in the oven for a few minutes and I found it delicious but if you want a simpler version or you don’t have an oven, you can just skip this part and the recipe will be delicious as well.
Also, this is a vegan option but feel free to add dairy milk and cheese in case you prefer.
So, let’s jump right into it.
Ingredients
2 Thai Aubergines (the green ones)
5 tomatoes
¼ of bell pepper (optional)
1 cup of fresh mushrooms
1 small onion
2 cups of pasta
4 tablespoon oil (olive or sunflower)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
½ cup of peanuts (with or without peels)* **
4 tablespoons of Tapioca starch**
*We will make a plant based milk from the peanuts. You can use dairy milk here in case you prefer;
**If you are not baking your pasta in the oven, you don’t need these ingredients;
Instructions
I’ll detail the instructions in parts, but you can make all of them together. You can check how I made everything in my time lapse video. The whole process lasted around 30-35 minutes.
Plant based milk from peanuts
In a saucepan add the peanuts and 2 cups of water and let it boil for approximately 5 minutes.
Pour peanuts into a strainer and rinse them off. Add the boiled peanuts into a blender with 500 mL of filtered water. Blend it together for a couple of minutes.
Place a cheese cloth or a nut bag or a fine sieve over a bowl, then slowly pour milk over top and squeeze the cheese cloth so that the milk comes out. This will drain out any of the pulp and assure that the milk is nice and smooth.
We are going to use only one cup from this milk, so you can store the remaining of it for up to 4 days in a glass container in your fridge. It goes very well with smoothies, coffee and it’s the best plant-based milk for savory recipes in my opinion.
Pasta with Thai Aubergines
Start washing your aubergines and chopping them. Pour the chopped aubergines into a strainer and add 1 teaspoon of salt and reserve. The aubergine will release some liquid and the bitter taste as well.
Cook the pasta following the instructions in the package for “al dente” and reserve.
In a saucepan add the olive oil and when hot, add the chopped onion. Fry it for around 3 minutes stirring well until it starts to become transparent. Then, add the chopped tomatoes. Put the lid on and let it cook for another couple of minutes so the tomatoes start releasing some liquid.
Then, squeeze the aubergines and add them to the saucepan together with the bell peppers and the mushroom. Add the salt, black pepper, sweet paprika and the rosemary and let it cook for approximately 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Now, add the cooked pasta.
If you don’t want to bake your pasta, your meal is ready 🙂
Baked pasta
Now, pour the pasta into a baking pan. In the same saucepan that you had the pasta, add one cup of the peanut milk and the tapioca starch. Stir it well and then add this mix into the baking pan with the pasta. Mix it thoroughly.
Put the pasta in the pre-heated oven at 180oC for 5 minutes. Then, mix it again and bake it for another 5 minutes.
And your meal is ready.
Hope you enjoy it! Let me know your thoughts in case you decide to make it 🙂
Check the Time Lapse Video below: