Spicy Garlic and Oil Pasta with Aonori is a Japanese fusion vegan pasta recipe of the popular Italian pasta, spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino. This recipe is probably one of my favorite pasta recipes that I've created! This spicy garlic oil pasta with aonori recipe is super simple with less than 10 ingredients but extremely flavorful.
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time25 minutesmins
Course: Main
Cuisine: Italian Inspired, Japanese Fusion
Servings: 2
Author: Plant-Based Matters
Ingredients
Cooking Pasta
2qtwater
2tbspsea salt
8ozdried thin spaghettior spaghetti
The Rest
3tbspextra virgin olive oil
3large cloves garlicminced (about 3 tbsp / 25 g)
1/2tsptakanotsume slices or dried red chili pepper flakesadjust to taste
1/4-1/3cuppasta cooking water
1tspsoy sauce
1tspaonoriadjust to taste
High-quality extra virgin olive oilfor the finishing touch
Start boiling water in a medium to large pot. Once the water is boiling, add sea salt then start cooking thin spaghetti for 6-7 minutes or according to the instructions on the package. Be sure to cook shorter time for al dente. Reserve up to 1/3 cup/80 ml pasta cooking water.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. In a cold large frying pan, add extra virgin olive oil and then add garlic. Turn the heat on at medium heat and cook the garlic for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
Next, add takanotsume or dried red chili pepper flakes. Cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
A few minutes before the pasta is done, add 1/4-1/3 cup/60-80 ml pasta cooking water to the pan. Let the oil and the pasta cooking water emulsified and reduced. Turn the heat to medium low. Continue to simmer until the pasta is done.
Drain the pasta and transfer to the pan. Swirl in soy sauce and give a quick toss. Add the remaining pasta cooking water if it’s dry.
Serve with aonori on top. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and add freshly ground black pepper (optional) for the finishing touch.
Notes
Takanotsume
Takanotsume is Japanese dried red chili pepper which can be found as a whole of slices.
You could substitute with regular dried red chili pepper flakes or authentic Italian ones.
It has more intensive seaweed taste than nori seaweed therefore no substitution to attain the same flavor. However, nori seaweed could be an option although it’ll not be the same flavor.
Spaghetti also works but my no.1 recommendation is THIN SPAGHETTI which really does make a whole lot difference in the final taste.
The rich yet delicate flavor of oil-based sauce coats the pasta better when it's thinner.
Pasta, Water and Salt
Use the following amount of ingredients per serving to perfectly season the pasta water for cooking pasta.
Spaghetti: 4 oz / 113 g
Water: 1 quart / 1 liter
Sea Salt: 1 tbsp
Always cook 1-2 minutes shorter in water for al dente then cook it in the last 1-2 minutes!
Garlic
Mince the garlic! For garlic and oil pasta, it tastes better (more intense garlic flavor that distributes evenly in every bite) when the garlic is smaller. So, mince them as small as you can!
When you cook the garlic, add extra virgin olive oil and minced garlic to a cold pan. Then turn the heat on at medium heat and cook the garlic for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. With this method, you can slowly extract the flavor of garlic and infuse it to the oil without burning the garlic.
Emulsification
When it's oil-based pasta, the oil is what makes the sauce. But you must combine with the pasta cooking water! The starchy and seasoned pasta water gives the body and the delicious taste to the oil which becomes the sauce for the pasta.
When you add the pasta cooking water to the hot oil, garlic and chili pepper mixture, it emulsifies and creates slightly thick sauce. That's what binds all the flavor together for the garlic and oil pasta.
Volume May Matter
I've discovered that it comes out better when I cook 1-2 servings versus cooking for 4 servings with a whole box of pasta.
Choice of Olive Oil
Use "good" extra virgin olive oil to cook the sauce but use "great" extra virgin olive oil as a finishing oil.