Creamy coconut-almond noodles with mushrooms and spinach (GF, vegan)

It’s freezing winter here in Beijing, which means that most days I’m in the mood for something warm and comforting.

This dish is something I threw together which includes a lot of my favourite flavours – almond, coconut and mushroom! Add some broccoli and spinach, and these nutty creamy noodles make for a delicious and filling meal – a perfect dish to come home to after a windy cold day out in the city.

Creamy coconut-almond noodles with mushrooms and spinach

Serves 4
Tags: Gluten free, vegan, main dish

Ingredients:

• Extra virgin olive oil for cooking
• 1 medium onion/half a large onion, diced
• 3 – 4 cloves of garlic, chopped into small pieces
• 400g of Broccoli, chopped into florets
• 500g of spinach
• 500g of mushrooms (I like to use a mix of white and brown button mushrooms) sliced
• 2 tbs of almond butter
• 1 tbs of nutritional yeast (optional, but adds a slight creamy cheese-like flavour)
• 200 – 300 mL of coconut milk (depending on how thick you’d like the sauce to be)
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 water (if steaming for extra soft broccoli)
• 4 servings of Gluten-free pasta (here I’m using a chick-pea based low carb pasta)
• Handful of fresh basil to serve/garnish

Instructions:

1. Place olive oil in pan. Sauté chopped onion for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add the diced garlic and sauté for another minute or two (be careful not to burn the garlic)
2. Throw in the mushrooms and fry until mushrooms shrink and turn medium-dark brown (about 10 minutes)
3. Add coconut milk to mushrooms, cover pan and simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes, until you can see the coconut milk begin to turn a brown mushroomy-colour!
4. Take the liquid and some onions from the mixture and pour into a blender or food processor. Set aside the mushrooms in a bowl.
5. Add almond butter and nutritional yeast to liquid in blender, pulse or blend for a minute or two, until well-mixed. Check the consistency, if too thick, add extra coconut milk and a tsp or two of almond butter if needed
6. In a medium-sized pot, fry the broccoli in olive oil until florets are tinged brown. If you’d like them softer, add a 1/4 cup of water to the pan and cover and steam for three minutes.
7. Start to prepare the pasta per packet instructions
8. Add coconut-almond sauce in blender to broccoli in pot, add spinach and mix together lightly. Let cook for about 5 minutes until spinach is cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Drain pasta and add to pot (use extra water from the pasta to add to the sauce if you’d like a thinner consistency)
10. Serve and top with mushrooms set aside earlier, garnish with basil. Enjoy!

Tried this recipe? Let me know what you think in the comments below!