If you look around the internet you’ll find an abundance of Carbonara recipes and i’ve tried and tested them all over the years. Then my daughter moved to Italy to a town with one of the most famous vegan restaurants in the country. With a little Italian persuasion they convinced the chef to part ways with his secret ingredients and after a few weeks of experimenting with quantities (the chef wasn’t going to tell them everything) they finally cracked the recipe. Their final recipe is so simple and requires hardly any ingredients compared to the recipes you’ll find online. In fact she even said when they were looking her Italian family were highly amused at what these recipes were calling a Carbonara and genuinely couldn’t understand what half the ingredients were for!
So, if you want to eat an authentic Italian Carbonara – that quite frankly will be the easiest one you could ever make – then keep reading. And maybe finally now I know the recipe my daughter will stop telling me off for calling “Pasta Alfredo” or “Pasta Bianco” a Carbonara! Oh, and believe me I know that curry powder sounds weird… but she really wasn’t lying when she said that’s the “secret ingredient” as I watched her make it last night and it was the damn best Carbonara i’ve ever eaten.
RECIPE:
Ingredients to serve 4.
- Pasta – Tagliatelle is apparently the best to serve it with.
- 2 cartons of either Oat or Soya cream – Oat is what is used in the original recipe but they have tried it multiple times with each one and they say there is a difference but both taste just as good so it’ll be your own personal preference here.
- 1 block of smoked tofu such as The TofooCo or Taifun.
- 1 bulb of Garlic or Garlic powder.
- Teaspoon of Cumin or curry powder.
- Tablespoon of Chickpea Flour or Cornstarch powder – Chickpea flour is technically the correct ingredient to use but Cornstarch works fine.
- Olive oil.
- Black Pepper.
- Salt.
METHOD:
- Boil your water for the Pasta.
- Put the cream, spice and flour in a bowl and mix with a little salt and pepper.
- Cut your tofu into small slices and fry in Olive oil and either 1 bulb of garlic or a sprinkle of garlic powder.
- When your pasta has boiled add the cream mix and pasta to the tofu and mix well over a low heat for about 30 seconds.
- Serve your Carbonara finishing with some more black pepper to your own taste.
