“Napolitan Spaghetti” is NOT Italian, but one of the most beloved pasta dishes in Japan.
We don’t seem to know exactly how it was created, but based on some googled information it was likely originally created at Hotel New Grand in Yokohama, Japan, sometime around 1940-1950.
Cooked spaghetti is sauteed with various vegetables and processed meat (onion, green pepper, and bacon/sausage are popular) and then most importantly flavored with ketchup.
Cooking pasta with ketchup may shock Italians (lol), but since I grow up eating this dish regularly as a kid like many Japanese people, I still crave for it once in a while.
This time instead of using meat or fake meat, I decided to make “bacon” with “Atsu-age” tofu which is already deep-fried and firmer compared to regular tofu.
I cut the Atsu-age tofu into small pieces, marinated in soy sauce based marinade (soy sauce, sugar, garlic powder, oil, miso) and cooked/broiled in the oven until it was crispy.
I was very happy with the result because the texture was spot-on!
It was also nice to cook it in the oven so that I could do other things using the stovetop while cooking the “bacon”.
I like my Napolitan Spaghetti with a lot of vegetables.
This time I used onion, green pepper, Shiitake mushrooms, carrot, and zucchini.
As many do today, I added a few extra sauces in addition to the ketchup, including soy sauce and Tonkatsu sauce, to create depth in the flavor.
Finished with ITALIAN parsley from my planter herb garden. 🙂
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