This isn't chicken. But it's a pretty good alternative! It's made using What the Cluck soy-based chicken-style chunks by the Vegetarian Butcher. There are lots of good fake meat alternatives around now, although you have to be careful if you are gluten-free as many of them contain wheat.
For this recipe I wanted to show how it's possible to make a creamy-ish pasta sauce using dairy-free ingredients. The key ingredient here is silken tofu, which is a good source of protien and makes for a nice creamy texture. The soy sauce sounds like a strange ingredient, but you don't really notice it in the end result, it adds saltiness and an 'umami' flavour.
Serves 2 portions.
Ingredients
- 1 packet 'What the Cluck' chicken-style pieces
- Enough gluten-free pasta for 2 portions
- Handful of frozen peas
- 1 carton (300g) of silken tofu
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp dairy-free spread
- 2 tbsp of soya or oat milk
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- Ground Nutmeg
- 20g mozzarella-style vegan cheese, grated
Method
- Boil the pasta according to instructions, and cook the frozen peas as you usually would.
- In a food processor or using a stick blender, blend the silken tofu, dairy-free spread, soya milk, cornflour, soy sauce and and nutritional yeast
- Add the mixture to a pan and heat until thickened. Stir in the grated vegan cheese.
- Meanwhile fry the 'chicken' pieces with some olive oil until browned.
- Once the sauce has thickened, add the nutmeg, and salt to taste.
- Stir the sauce into the pasta along with the frozen peas. Top with the chicken pieces.