Creamy Coconut Mushrooms and Spinach Pasta

We are not Italians but Italian food seems to dominate our weekly food menu. The biggest fans are my kids. Even the toddler doesn't get tired of it. Their all time favourite is pasta. Cook it any way and it is always a hit!

If given a choice, creamy pasta and lasagne would be their pick. The creamy and the gooey cheesy texture, almost like mac and cheese would be their demand but we all know too much of anything is never good.

So let's get straight to today's recipe. It is vegetarian and vegan friendly too. This recipe is so versatile that you can un-vegetarianise (sorry that's not even a real word, I know) it by adding some pieces of chicken breast or left over pulled pork or chicken, roast chicken, bacon, turkey ham, prawns or tuna flakes or chunks. The options are limitless.

Ingredients

250gm Drum wheat semolina spaghetti cooked al dente

200gm baby spinach (washed and drained)

200gm white mushroom sliced (Portobello mushrooms would give a meatier taste)

1 large onion sliced thin (we want rings)

2 heaping tablespoons coconut cream (or more, depending on your preference)

2 tablespoons of coconut or olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional:
If you like some heat, add sliced fresh chili before taking out saute onions or chili flakes to give it some oomph! If you want to indulge then turn this pasta into a star by replacing oil with pure butter and add a little fresh cream towards the end to give it a glistening appeal.

Method

Saute the onions in a heavy deep pan with a tablespoon of oil until they are brown and aromatic. Remove and drain them on kitchen towel. Add another tablespoon of oil and the sliced mushroom into the same pan. Saute until these turn brown too. Be patient as this may take a while. Once the mushrooms sucks up all its sweat, that's when they are perfectly cooked. Raw foodies will not agree with me on this.

Return browned onions back into the pan, throw in the baby spinach and give it a quick stir. You can add some salt at this point or towards the end before adding the cooked spaghetti.

Before adding coconut, you must dilute it with some warm water and let it simmer for a minute. Then mix to combine all ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste and finally add in the cooked spaghetti. Lunch is served! 

But, like I mentioned earlier, my kids enjoy cheese on almost anything and are able to tolerate it, I added 1/2 cup of shredded, aged cheddar cheese. 

This is the point the spaghetti in the pan starts speaking to you, sploosh, sploosh, sploosh.

Vegans, look away.

Whole load of cheese

A pictorial guide just for you.

This makes a great tiffin food for kids to pack in their insulated lunch box. I made this spaghetti at 11.30 am and it was still warm at 2pm.

Hope you will enjoy making and eating it as much as we did and let us know how was it. If you improvised it, please do share that too.

Here is a prove! My toddler enjoying her gooey lunch. It was so good, she decided to eat it with her fingers. Finger licking good.

Thanks! Do stay tuned and if you liked this recipe, go over to my recipe page for more.

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