This is one of my side that I also want to share. Aside from being a fashion designer/enthusiast, singer, writer and nurse, I am also a cook. Well i try to be. I love things that are related to creativity. I'm an artist, so I try every bit of artistry there is. When it comes to cooking, i love experimenting, adding unconventional ingredients to create a new taste. My specialties are pasta dishes. To start of this new self-proclaimed "expertise" on my blog, I want to share my recipe for Aligue Pasta. It is a crab paste base pasta. Aligue is the Tagalog term for crab fat. Most of the aligue pasta recipes there is uses the paste itself as a sauce and just sauteing it but i have a different take on it.
First of, we need to boil the pasta: Any pasta type will do but since I only have the regular spaghetti, that's what i have used for this dish: (You can also use fettuccine) then after the water was brought to a boil add pasta and cooking oil:
After the pasta was done, put it aside and strain immediately, to prevent the pasta from being overcooked.
Get the sauce ingredients. You will need crab paste, (aligue) this usually comes in bottles and/or can and you can buy it at any local grocery stores. I choose this brand, because of the taste, it is somewhat bland and spicy at the same time. Most of the aligue there is has lemon juices and a bit salty, but this brand is somewhat bland but still the crab fat flavors is still very very distinct:
Saute the crab paste, and tuna using olive oil. Normally, aligue pasta doesn't have tuna, but i just added it as i need meat on my dish. This is just an option if you prefer aligue alone it is still okay or you can add your favorite seafood like shrimp, squid and clams. I use Olive oil since it is the most healthy oil there is. I try my best to use healthy ingredients on my dishes. Since crab paste is rich in fat and they say it can add up to your cholesterol, i use Tuna since it has Omega 3 that helps fight cholesterol.
Add Mushroom, season it with salt, pepper, garlic powder and my secret ingredient which i use most of the time on my recipes: the Italian seasoning. It is a mixture of 5 different Italian herbs: Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, Marjoram and Basil. It is perfect for tomato-based sauces and also good for green salads, dips, soups, and dressings.
After simmering for 5 minutes, add tomato sauce. As i kept on blabbering, this is not the usual aligue pasta as they don't add tomato sauce on it, most of the time they use cream or just plain aligue. But since this is fat-rich food i try to balance it with healthy options. Let it simmer again for 5 minutes:
Mix it with your pasta and add Parmesan cheese and a squeeze of lemon or calamansi and voila you have the healthy Aligue and Mushroom Pasta: