Saturday, January 18, 2014

Vegan Carbonara

As I promised at the very end of last year, I have made another batch of Carbonara so I can post the recipe here.

Carbonara is one of those dishes that a lot of people seem to love, but I had never even heard of before I went vegan. So I have no reference point to compare it to. But somewhere along the way I picked up the key ingredients - egg yolks, bacon, cream and pasta. Not super vegan friendly? Think again.

We had some Vegg in the freezer (we blend up the whole packet and freeze in smaller jars), and some imitation bacon bits (fully vegan) that my mum sent over as a birthday present. So the food miles for this are not small! It's not an every week kind of meal, but it is easy, and fast, filling, and really delicious. And unlike chicken's eggs, the Vegg won't "scramble" if you leave it on the heat for too long, so there is less multi-tasking with the vegan version of Carbonara.


Vegan Carbonara

1 Tbsp. olive or coconut oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
300 grams of mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 Tbsp. vegan bacon bits
1/2 c. prepared Vegg
100 mL coconut cream, soy milk or other non-dairy substitute
400 grams of pasta
parsley, salt and pepper, nutritional yeast, and more bacon bits for sprinkling

Heat the oil in a frying pan over pretty high (not quite the highest) heat. Saute the mushrooms until they are soft and the liquid has evaporated from them. The high heat helps evaporation to happen faster, so your mushrooms brown instead of boiling in their weird mushroom water. Stir in the garlic and bacon bits and mix it all around for a minute. Add Vegg and soy milk and turn the heat to low and leave it, stirring every now and then, while your pasta cooks. Boil water (boiling in the kettle is more efficient than the stove, I hear), cook spaghetti or other pasta until it is al dente, or mushy if that's your thing. Drain, dump it into the pan with the sauce, and stir it all up. If it's a bit claggy, throw in some more soy milk. It should be creamy and saucy and good. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve with parsley, nutritional yeast, and moar bacon bits.

It's worthing getting some Vegg for this - which reminds me, I need to order some more. I honestly will probably never attempt a vegan poached egg again, but Vegg makes a rocking carbonara.

7 comments:

Cadry's Kitchen said...

This sounds really good! I ordered more Vegg after they sent me a couple of sample packets. However, I haven't ventured outside of eggy tofu breakfasts. Thanks for the inspiration!

Kari said...

I'm the opposite of most people and have always disliked regular pasta carbonara - so much so that I think I've only had the odd tastes in my life. I would have assumed it was impossible to veganise so regardless of my preferences on the conventional type, I'm really impressed with your adaptation here!

vegan.in.brighton said...

I looove carbonara and yours looks delicious. It was always my favourite pasta dish in my pre-veggie days and I love recreating it now with Alpro soya cream and loads of veggie bacon.

Joey said...

i haven't had carbonara for a million years, so I've long since forgotten what it tastes like, but looking at your recipe, I'm pretty sure I'd like it. Another vote for recreating it with Alpro cream!

Millie said...

Theresa I love the food, but I am in love with the striped plate...it so cute.

http://nuestracena-vegancuisine.blogspot.com

Sandy said...

Yummo! This looks totally awesome and I must admit that a carbonara is one of the things that I haven't eaten at all since going vegan! Must try this! :-)

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