Japanese Sauce Pasta, Simple One Pot Lunch

When we first visited Pasta Zanmai, the Japanese restaurant, I fell in love with their signature peanut sauce pasta, surprisingly the peanut paste which I thought would be too thick actually paired well with the pasta.

Since I bought a bottle of roasted peanut sauce recently during a Japanese food fair, I thought to use it to make some Japanese pasta similar to the ones we had in Pasta Zanmai, and it turned out surprisingly well!

My Japanese Peanut Sauce Pasta, served with some crunchy chicken fillet, another favorite dish of my kiddos. The whole pot of pasta was finished under 30 minutes.

This is the key ingredient - Roasted Peanut Sauce, can be used as salad dressing too. Just make sure you shake well before using.

The making? Easy.

Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 15 min
Serving for: 4 pax

Ingredients:

Peanut Sauce Pasta:

1/2 packets of spaghetti 

12 stalks of baby spinach, wash and cut into chunks about 5cm long

1 medium potatoes, roughly sliced

2 clove of garlic, sliced
3 eggs, beaten and add a teaspoon of soy sauce & pepper

1 table spoon soy sauce

1/2 table spoon of dark soy sauce (optional)

A dash of rosemary (dried or fresh)
A dash of salt

4 tablespoon of Roasted Peanut sauce

A) Chicken Fillet & Marinate:

200gm chicken breast, cut into short strips

1 teaspoon of salt

A few drops of sesame oil 

A dash of pepper 

Fancy some crunchy fillet instead?

B) Crunchy Chicken Fillet & Marinate:

200gm chicken breast, cut into short strips

1 tablespoon of teriyaki sauce (can replace with soy sauce)

1 teaspoon of salt

A few drops of sesame oil 

A dash of paprika powder (optional)

A dash of pepper 

2 tablespoon corn starch

3-4 tablespoon of breadcrumbs

The Making:
1. Season the chicken strips, set aside (for method A).

2. Heat up 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a wok, sauté the garlic till fragrance then add in the potato strips, follow by the chicken strips. Stir fry for about 2 minutes.

3. Add boiled water (room temperature) into the wok to just enough to cover the pasta, let to boil then toss in the spaghetti. Add the salt, soy sauce and rosemary then let it simmers for 8-10 minutes with the lid closed.

4. While the spaghetti is cooking, heat up a table spoon of olive oil, pan fry the egg liquid to make a large Omelette. Using the spatula, roughly cut the omelette and set aside. 

5. On the final 2 minutes, toss in the  baby spinach and close the lid to let it cook for 2 minutes. Turn off heat, toss in the Omelete and roasted peanut sauce into the spaghetti, mix well. 

That's it,  your Japanese sauce spaghetti is ready to serve! 

And if you feel like adding some crunchy chicken fillets, here's how...

7. Marinate the chicken fillets, coat them with a thin layer of corn starch and generous amount of bread crumbs. 

8. Heat up 3 tablespoon of cooking oil in a non stick pan, fry both sides of the fillets for about 3 minutes or until it turns golden brown. (You may cook few fillets at same time if you have a large enough pan, just don't turn the fillet too soon)

9. Dish out and let the oil drops off before serving.

Itadakimasu!

Do note that this dish is best to serve warm as the sauce may dry up quite fast.  However the pasta taste nice as it absorbs all the sauce. 

Important..

For children below 2yo or anyone with known allergic history to nuts, do avoid the peanut sauce altogether.