Gluten-free Pasta in Vegan Pumpkin & Coconut Sauce

Yet another Vegan-Venture!

You asked, and I listened. Here is another vegan autumn deliciousness! Gluten free Pasta in Vegan Pumpkin Coconut Sauce. It’s creamy, rich and has a kick to it. Best part; no cheese! I know that we all say cheese makes everything better. But, this vegan pumpkin coconut sauce is just as creamy as any other cheese or dairy based sauce. It is so delicious that you want to lick every last bit of the sauce right from the pan. I seriously did that. Haha!! Licking from the pan is so fun and it somehow even tastes better 🙂 I know most of you do that too 🙂 

It’s one of those dishes that were totally not planned for. It was one of those days, when you are in so much rush and have no time to cook a fancy meal; then you realize that you have no left overs in the fridge, and just a few ingredients left. That’s how this vegan pumpkin and coconut sauce happened for the pasta. 

Let’s Get a Little Creative.

Super tired after running around with house stuff and starving to death, I opened the fridge only to find some left over pumpkin puree, some coconut milk, and left over store-bought arabiatta sauce. I made a sad face trying to figure out what I could possibly make with these. Usually, I don’t buy ready-made sauces, but since I had a busy summer, I might have bought this one for my nieces and had a little bit left over from then. My first thought was, “Just heat up the sauce and add pasta.” It sounded fast and easy but not appetizing at all. So I tasted the sauce and it was actually not bad. But still, I didn’t just wanna heat it up and add pasta.

This is what I did instead; I heated some coconut milk and infused lemongrass in it. OMG! That refreshing smell of lemongrass is divine. Later, I pureed the arabiatta sauce with pumpkin and the infused coconut milk with some Thai dragon chili for the kick.

I wasn’t sure if my husband would like this sauce as he is not a pumpkin person. I know, you must be thinking he is so weird, who doesn’t like pumpkin? Anyway, I had full confidence in the flavors that I used to make the sauce, and I knew the pumpkin would not be too sweet for the pasta. Undoubtedly, it worked beautifully. He loved it so much, that he asked me to make it again. Would you believe that? I was stoked!

Freeze Away…

Sometime later I decided to make the sauce completely from scratch. This was a big batch too, so that I could freeze it. By now you all must know that I love cooking big batches of almost everything, and freeze it for later. My freezer is always loaded with stuff. When I tell this to older people, especially my relatives back home; they think I am crazy because I freeze food. People back home are used to eating everything fresh. Making a fresh meal each time for the family is amazing, but then you are stuck in the kitchen all day long.

Some days all you want is to take a break and relax with family. Other days you feel under the weather and can’t cook. It is for these precise days that frozen meals come to the rescue. If you freeze food at the right temperature and in the proper way, it’ll be fine to eat. It’s the best way to preserve foods’ fresh flavors and increase shelf life. Trust me, properly frozen food and later properly thawed tastes as fresh as any freshly cooked meal.

People always ask me whether I cook fancy foods every single day; my answer is absolutely not. But, whenever I cook something and it’s a win with my family, I make a big batch of it and freeze it. Cooking everyday along with photo shoots can be a bit hectic. So, since there is nothing wrong with eating frozen food which is home cooked anyways, I freeze away. I am sure most of the food bloggers can relate to what I’m trying to say.

For the Pasta with Pumpkin and Coconut Sauce…

Coming back to the pasta sauce, I decided to roast tomatoes, red bell peppers and chili peppers to get a nice smoky flavor. I chose red bell pepper to give the sauce some more reddish orange color. The color would be very different if you chose green peppers with red tomatoes. For the bell peppers, it’s best to deseed and cut them so they lay flat on the sheet pan without curving then roast under the broiler. It’s super quick and easy. 

The coconut milk was infused with lemongrass to give it a nice lemony flavor. The fragrance of lemongrass is absolutely heavenly and combining with coconut; the flavors are beyond delicious. Since I used a heavy duty blender when blending all the roasted veggies and lemongrass coconut milk, I used half of the lemongrass for the puree. It blended perfectly with the other ingredients and made the sauce even more flavorful. You could remove the lemongrass after it has been infused in the milk just before blending. 

I used ‘GoGo Quinoa’ pasta brand for the gluten free pasta. This post is not sponsored by the company though. Generally, I love their pastas and since I had some in the pantry, I used it. We are not gluten free, but we didn’t feel any difference when we ate this pasta. It’s really good actually. But of course, you can make it fun and creative by using any kind and shape of pasta you like. 

If you make this pasta, I would love to see your version, so do share with me on my Facebook page , or Instagram.

If you want to try other vegan or vegetation pasta sauces that would be perfect with your favorite kind of pasta, then check out the Ramps and Garden Pea pesto or Vegan Olive Pesto. Hope you are all having a great autumn.

5 from 11 votes

Print

Gluten-free Pasta in Vegan Pumpkin & Coconut Sauce

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

Total Time

1 hr

 

Course: Main Course, pasta

Keyword: pasta, glutenfree pasta, vegan pumpkin sauce, autumn pasta

Servings: 6 people

Author: Esha

Ingredients

For the vegan pumpkin coconut sauce

• 150 grams red bell pepper deseeded
• 275 grams tomatoes
• 75 grams onions chopped
• 200 grams pumpkin puree
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 3 lemongrass slit in half
• 1-2 whole chilly pepper

For the pasta

• 100 grams onions sliced
• 100 grams bell pepper sliced
• 100 grams mushrooms sliced
• 150-175 grams fussili pasta glutenfree
• Fresh herbs for garnish I used parsley and basil

Instructions

1. In a sauce pan, heat coconut milk and add the lemongrass. After a boil, take the pan off the heat, cover and keep it aside for about 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile roast the veggies for sauce.

2. Line 1/2 sheet pan with aluminum foil. Cut the bell peppers in 3-4 pieces and drizzle 1 tsp of olive oil. Lay them flat on the sheet pan skin side up. Brush very little oil on the chilly pepper and lay them on the sheet pan along with bell peppers. You could remove the seeds if you don't like it too spicy. Roast under the broiler for 4-7 minutes. As soon as you take the sheet pan out, cover all the peppers, in the same aluminum foil to let the hot steam in. This will sweat the peppers and the skin will come off easily.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Trim 1/4 inch of the garlic head to expose the cloves. Drizzle some olive oil. cover in aluminum foil and roast in the over for about 30-45 minutes.

5. Cut the tomatoes in half. Lay them on a lined sheet pan, cut side up. Drizzle olive oil. Sprinkle salt pepper and jaggery or sugar. Place the sheet pan in the oven along with garlic, and roast them for 30-45 minutes until very soft and caramelized.

6. Take the peppers out of the foil and remove the skin.
7. In a heavy duty Blender, add the peppers, tomatoes, garlic, pumpkin puree, coconut milk and few of the lemon grass. Blend on high until you get smooth puree.
8. In a big pot, boil water for pasta, and add salt. Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
9. Mean while, in a heavy bottom pan, add 2 tsp on coconut oil. Add the sliced onions, mushrooms and peppers. Cook on high for 2-3 minutes till onions are translucent and mushrooms get cooked.

10. Lower the heat to medium low heat. Add salt, pepper and the pumpkin coconut puree.

11. Give it a mix and adjust for seasoning.
12. Add the pasta and 1-2 tbsp of the pasta water. Mix it well to coat the sauce on the pasta.

13. Garnish with fresh herbs and serve hot.

Recipe Notes

You could use the store bought arrabbiata sauce and blend it with the pumpkin puree and coconut milk, if you are short of time.