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Cook Healthy Meatless Boulognese Spaghetti

Edited by Rafah Perlado, Robbi, Lynn, Eng and 1 other

6 Parts:

How to Make the Noodles Firm

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Spaghetti Bolognese is one of the the most tempting dishes that you can find.

This one has a nice twist in that it is a healthy meatless Bolognese recipe that is designed for those who are health conscious, or even the person who is practicing a vegan or a vegetarian lifestyle.

Contents

1 Ingredients
2 Procedures
- 2.1 Pasta:
  - 2.1.1 How to Determine 'Al Dente'
- 2.2 Sauce:
3 Plating
4 Garlic Bread
5 How to Make the Noodles Firm
6 Comments

Ingredients

1
1 kilo spaghetti pasta
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2
2 bulbs of medium red onion, minced
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3
6 cloves of garlic, minced
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4
1 big can Veg-e-Burger
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5
1 big can button mushrooms, sliced into desired thickness
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6
1 large bottle Bolognese sauce (any brand you prefer)
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7
1 200 grams sachet or can tomato paste
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8
Olive oil for sauteing and cooking the pasta
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9
Salt and pepper to taste
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10
White sugar, to balance the flavor
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11
Grated cheese (any variety you prefer)
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12
Fresh basil (optional)
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Note: Photos above are just sample brands of the ingredients. This does not mean that the same brands are needed in preparing this dish. You can always change things according to your liking.

Procedures

Pasta:

1
Boil generous amount of water in a pot.
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2
Add about 2/4 cup of olive oil.
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3
Add 2 tablespoons of salt or more
.
Note: Salt will give the pasta its flavor, so don't hold back.
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4
Drop the pasta and continue stirring until al dente.
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5
Drain, but don't rinse with cold water.
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How to Determine 'Al Dente'

Get a strand of the pasta and throw it on a vertical marble or polished surface. If it sticks and doesn't drop, it is already cooked to perfection.
You can also taste it. If it's firm but chewy, it is al dente.

Sauce:

1
In a pot, heat olive oil and saute onion first before garlic for a minute.
Note:Garlic burns easily so it is better to cook the onion first when sauteing
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2
Add the Veg-e-Burger and cook until the Veg-e-Burger changes color to light brown, which should take about 5 to 6 minutes.
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3
Then add in the sliced button mushrooms
.
Cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
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4
Add in the store-bought Bolognese sauce
.
Note:Put 1/4 cup of water in the Bolognese bottle to get all the flavors left, then add in the cooking sauce
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5
Add the tomato paste.
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6
Simmer for another 10 minutes.
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7
Add salt and pepper to taste.
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8
If it tastes too sour for your liking, you can always add white sugar to balance the taste.
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Plating

You can combine all the sauces with the pasta if you want to, or you can just serve it separately.
Top each serving with grated cheese of your choice and fresh basil (optional).
Serve while hot.
You can also prepare garlic bread to go with this dish.

Garlic Bread

Finely grate or puree a good amount of peeled garlic.
Add butter (room temperature).
You may also add finely chopped parsley (optional).
Combine with a fork until well blended.
Spread on a bread of your choice.
Toast until golden brown.

How to Make the Noodles Firm

Spaghetti tastes much better when the noodles are firm and not soggy. It should not feel like it's pasty rice that will crumble the moment you touch it. Usually, low quality noodles will become that way easily, but oftentimes, it is also just dependent on the way you cook your noodles.

Here are some steps that you can follow in order to make sure that you produce firm noodles only:

1
Prepare a pot of hot water and let it boil for several minutes
.
You have to wait until the water is completely boiling before you do anything with it. You just need to let it stand on the pot and do not disturb it so that it will boil faster. Depending on the volume of water that you would need, this usually takes less than 10 minutes.
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2
Add a few drops of olive oil a few minutes before the water starts to boil
.
If you see the water starting to bubble more actively, it tells you that it's about to boil already. At this point, put a few drops of olive oil. This will help coat on the noodles later on, allowing it to cook without really destroying the structure of the noodles.
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3
Drop the noodles onto boiling water for about a minutes
.
After a minute, turn off your stove and just let the noodles get immersed onto the boiled water for about 5 minutes. After that, strain it and let it sit for another 5 minutes.
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4
Sprinkle a few more drops of olive oil as you let the noodle sit and cool down
.
This will make sure that excess water does not seep in through the noodles for a long period of time. This is what usually makes noodles soggy. There should not be too much water or they should not be overcooked.
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5
Serve the noodles and pasta separately
.
It is most ideal to do this because if you let the sauce on the noodles for a long period of time, that will already affect the overall texture of the pasta. If you prefer to decorate the plate, make sure that you only put the sauce when the pasta plate is ready for serving and that it will be consumed right away.
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