Okay, a bit of backstory:
I’ve gone all of May and June with no paycheck (yay graduate school!) and writing my July rent check wiped out my checking account. And the postal service lost my tax refund, so that was money I was relying on that I can’t get for another three weeks. So I’m going “oh dear oh dear oh dear how will I feed myself until [various little things I’ve been expecting] pop in?”
(N.B.: I did not say “oh dear,” but I want to keep this submission family-friendly.
A couple of notes: I have tagged this recipe as “vegan” and “vegetarian.” It is definitely vegetarian in its base (but you can add meat if you have it and want it). I didn’t check my ingredients to see if they were all vegan, but if you’re vegan, my guess is that what you have handy for this is also vegan. Because it’s vegetarian, it’s kosher. I express no opinion on whether it’s halal. SO, without further ado, here’s how I fed myself for almost three days:
1. Start your favorite pasta boiling. No, it doesn’t matter what. BOIL THAT PASTA. Wanna use fresh? Go for it. All you have is half a bag of linguine left over from spaghetti sauce six months ago? That stuff ain’t gone bad, use it up.
2. In a measuring cup, add:
2 parts soy sauce
2 parts peanut butter (you can use sesame seed butter or almond butter or tahini if you’re allergic to peanuts)
2 parts fresh ginger (or as much ginger as you can stand)
1 part sesame oil
1 part chili garlic paste (or sriracha, if that’s what you have, or hot sauce, if that’s what you have)
salt, sugar, sesame seeds, and cilantro to taste (so if you think cilantro tastes like soap, leave it out)
3. Blend until smooth. A stick blender is the best option here, but anything (even a whisk) that gets the job done. Taste it – MAKE SURE YOU TASTE IT. If it’s too spicy for you (like my first batch was), add sugar or honey or soy sauce. Too salty? Add sugar or honey or the spicy. Too dark (flavor wise, not color wise; dark flavors should remind you of chocolate)? Add more ginger. Too bright (bright flavors should remind you of vinegar)? Add more peanut butter.
4. Drain your pasta (cook it well past al dente, you don’t want the leftovers to get crunchy in the fridge).
5. Toss sauce over pasta. Feel free to not use all the sauce; your goal is to coat, not swim. The amount of pasta should determine the amount of sauce you use. For half a pound of pasta, “2 parts” above should be “¼ cup.” (For those who don’t keep conversions in your head, that means “1 part” is “2 tablespoons.”
6. Go to town. If you made more than about a quarter pound of pasta, go to town for about three days.
