Vegan pasta in coconut milk and tender coconut pulp

Keralites, who appreciate good food, always love to try out different flavours and tastes. The Italian pasta too has found a significant position in the Malayali platter. A touch of our local cuisine would load the pasta dishes with flavours. You could give an occasional miss to the regular breakfast dishes like idli, dosa and appam and replace it with delicious pasta. One of the most amazing features of the pasta dishes is that they can be prepared in various flavours and still taste good.

Aswini Geetha Gopalakrishnan, the sous chef at the Malabar Cafe in Grand Hayat, Kochi prepares a unique pasta dish which would be loved by the vegans. This vegan pasta dish is cooked in the creamy sauce that is usually prepared for the fish moilee. However, the dish, prepared using fresh coconut oil and coconut milk, has all the goodness of the local flavours.

Ingredients
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup tender coconut pulp
100 gms farfalle or bow tie pasta
1 onion
1 tomato
Small piece of ginger
2 green chillies
1 lemon
5 ½ tsp coconut oil
½ tsp turmeric powder
Curry leaves as required
Salt and pepper as required

Preparation
To cook the pasta, add some salt and coconut oil into boiling water.
Add in the pasta and cook for 10-12 minutes with the lid on.
The pasta could even be cooked until they are nice and soft.
To check whether the pasta has been cooked perfectly, scoop out a piece and cut it in half.
If there aren€™t any white spots, then the pasta is cooked al dente.
Drain the pasta and sprinkle some coconut oil over it and mix well to prevent the pasta from sticking together.
For the pasta sauce, heat some coconut oil in a non stick pan.
Add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté .
Into it add the green chillies and sauté well.
Add a pinch of turmeric powder for the colour.
Pour the coconut milk and mix well.
When the coconut milk begins to boil, add the cooked pasta.
Season with salt and freshly crushed black pepper.
Add the tender coconut pulp to make it richer and creamier.
Add the sliced tomato and lemon juice for the perfect tang.
Drizzle some coconut oil over the dish and finish it off by adding few curry leaves.
This vegan pasta dish tastes incredible when served hot.