Vegan Tomato Miso Shimeji Pasta is a vegan Japanese fusion pasta dish that has Japanese shimeji mushrooms and the spicy tomato sauce made with miso as a secret ingredient. It's definitely not a typical tomato sauce pasta but totally worth trying to experience the unique flavor twist of the miso in the tomato sauce! You can make with any pasta of your choice.
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time25 minutesmins
Course: Main
Cuisine: Italian Inspired, Japanese Fusion
Servings: 2
Author: Plant-Based Matters
Ingredients
Cooking Spaghetti
8ozdried spaghettior any pasta of your choice
3qtwater
2tbspsea salt
The Rest
1tbspextra virgin olive oilplus more for serving
1/4-1/2tspJapanese takanotsume pepper flakesor any red chili pepper flakes
2large garlic clovesminced
1/2cupdiced yellow onionabout 1/4 of medium onion
4ozwhite shimeji mushroomsor brown, trimmed off the bottom and separated
Start boiling water for cooking pasta. Once the pasta water is boiling, salt the water and start cooking spaghetti (or any pasta of your choice) according to the instructions on the package. Reserve 1/2 cup/120 ml pasta cooking water (adjust accordingly to the actual serving size.)
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Heat up a frying pan at medium heat. Pour extra virgin olive oil, takanotsume (or red chili pepper flakes) and garlic. Cook for a minute or so until fragrant. Then add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Next add shimeji mushrooms. Add sea salt and cook for 1-2 minutes until shimeji is softened.
Once the shimeji is softened, add a half of the reserved pasta cooking water (adjust accordingly), and sake. Cook for a minute or so until the alcohol is cooked off.
Then add miso and passata. Stir and cook for a few minutes. Check the seasonings---adjust the seasoning with extra sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Optionally, add a pinch of sugar if the sauce is acidic. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to simmer until pasta is done. Add the rest of the pasta cooking water if necessary.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain well and transfer to the sauce. Give a quick toss.
To serve, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top.
Notes
Choice of pasta
I prefer using long pasta like spaghetti but you can use any pasta of your choice.
Japanese Takanotsume pepper flakes
Takanotsume is spicy Japanese red chili pepper.
I buy as a whole from The Japanese Pantry and slice on my own with scissors to make flakes.
You can use any red chili pepper flakes of your choice.
Shimeji Mushrooms
I use the white buna-shimeji called Bunapi® from HOKTO.
Bunapi® has no bitterness at all that exists in some brown buna-shimeji. Typically, white buna-shimeji has less bitterness.
Feel free to use brown buna-shimeji or other shimeji alternatives.
Passata
Passata is Italian tomato purée which is my go-to “tomato” for making tomato sauce.
I use the one in a glass jar. In my opinion, it tastes better than the canned tomato purée.
Sake
Be sure to look for vegan-friendly sake. Some bottles have a label says “vegan” or “vegan-friendly.”
No sake? Substitute with mirin (Japanese sweet cooking rice wine) or possibly white wine.
Choice of miso
Any miso would work for this recipe.
My go-to multipurpose miso is koji miso (soybean-base miso with a substantial amount of rice koji) of any kind. It’s still savory but koji makes it slightly sweet!