Noodles/Pasta

Homemade pasta was another thing that I missed making and eating when we didn’t have a functional kitchen.

It seems to impress people easily, but making pasta at home is not that hard.

The dough looks a bit shaggy at this time right after it was mixed and formed into a ball, but…

Once it rests for 20 minutes or so, the dough becomes smooth and ready to be rolled out.

While my pasta dough is resting, I make sauce.

It’s a creamy tomato type sauce.

I also prepared crumbled tofu (marinated and fried), vegan meat (from a store, and cooked at home), and sauteed king mushrooms x garlic to add to the sauce later.

I didn’t have a rolling pin, so I used my husband’s can of soda (I just wrapped it with a parchment paper), and it worked perfectly (lol).

(I don’t want to buy a lot of kitchen tools if I don’t have to. I’m trying really hard not to clutter my small kitchen.)

The important thing about cooking homemade pasta (or store-bought pasta) is that you don’t want to overcook it.

Especially homemade pasta cooks so fast, and you want to make sure you take it out of the water when it’s still al dente.

Combining everything all together.

I got fresh Italian parsley from my planter.

So happy that I have easy access to a few fresh herbs.

Chopped Italian parsley and quick vegan “parmesan cheese”.

Lunch is ready.

I really should make pasta more often.

It’s been a busy week.

And for some reason I ran out of fresh veggies quickly this week, so I had to rely on frozen vegetables for a few days.

I was able to finally go grocery shopping yesterday, so tonight I enjoyed cooking the veggies I had just bought.

I didn’t have a concrete plan on how to make the sauce, but it turned out great.

My husband said it was the best pasta sauce I’ve ever made.

Creamy pepper sauce: sauteed garlic (4 cloves), half onion, and 2 orange peppers, about 1/4 cup cashew nuts, sundried tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper, soy milk, soy sauce Koji

The soy sauce Koji is a Umami powerhouse and did an awesome job in this sauce too.

I’ve recently made soy sauce Koji, and I’m loving it.

I’m hoping to have a whole post to talk about it soon.

The pasta was served with corn and sauteed asparagus.

No meat.

No fish.

But it was so satisfying.

Recently I re-watched “Midnight Diner”.

It’s a Japanese show based on a comic book.

It’s a fictional small diner in Tokyo, where people come for food, drinks, and human contact.

The owner of the diner is a middle-aged man with a visible scar over one of his eyes, which indicates he may have an interesting past.

The menu is short, but you can ask him to make what you want.

If he has the ingredients, he will make it for you.

Although each episode features a particular dish, the show is rather about the people who order the dish and their stories.

The curry ramen was features in Season 2.

When I saw it, I knew I had to make it myself.

This is an easy dish to make.

You pour curry over ramen (noodles and soup).

I also followed the suggestion made in the show and added cheese as a topping.

(I used my homemade vegan cheese).

There are other dishes I want to try from the show as well.

It’s too bad that only two seasons are available on Netflix.