A quick pantry dinner recipe for spicy and delicious penne pasta with a gorgeous chickpea and chilli sauce topped with lemony sourdough crumbs. Vegan and ready in just over half an hour.
Total Time45 minutesmins
Course: Italian, Pasta
Cuisine: Vegan, Vegetarian
Keyword: began pasta dinner, chickpea chilli pasta, pasta with sourdough crumb, vegan chickpea pasta, vegan pasta recipe
To Make Sourdough Crumb – Process sourdough bread pieces to coarse crumbs in a small food processor. Heat a wide cast iron frying pan on medium-low heat. Drizzle the base with about a teaspoon of olive oil. Place the crumbs in the pan over the oil. Sprinkle sea salt flakes. Toss constantly for 3-5 minutes until crumbs start crisping up. Reduce heat to low if you feel the pan is too hot and the crumbs are starting to burn. Remove from heat after a total of 3-5 minutes. Cool completely. Add lemon zest and parsley. Toss and mix well. This Sourdough crumb can be stored in an air-tight container in a cool corner of your kitchen for up to a day.
Cook the penne pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain all but some of the liquid in the pan. Cover and keep aside.
In a heavy-bottomed cooking pot, heat olive oil on medium. Add onion and garlic. Toss and cook for a few minutes until the onion starts caramelizing. Add red chilli flakes, smoked paprika and chipotle/ancho chilli powder. Mix well.
Add chickpeas, tomato, almond butter, tahini and salt. Mix well. Ensure that almond butter is evenly mixed in the sauce and there are no lumps left.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes to develop the flavours.
Add cooked pasta to the pan along with 2 tablespoons of the pasta liquid. Mix well. Cook on medium for a minute or two until pasta is completely heated through. Remove from pan.
Serve hot, topped with Sourdough crumb, pesto and basil leaves.
Notes
You can substitute almond butter with peanut butter.Make It Gluten-Free - Substitute with your favourite gluten-free pasta.Make It Nut-Free - Substitute almond butter with more tahini or a pumpkin seed butter.This is a spicy pasta, if you would like to reduce heat only add 1/2 teaspoons each of chilli flakes, smoked paprika and chipotle chilli. Alternatively, skip the chilli flakes as they have the most heat.