KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — You’re running out of food. You have too much food in the pantry.
Somehow both of these statements can be true at the same time. You know this when you’ve spent some time under self quarantine: it’s the lockdown life.
Perhaps you panic bought before, hoarding canned food and more beans than you know what to do with.
You’ve never cooked a bean in your entire life; why do you have a dozen tins of chickpeas in your cupboard now?
At the same time, the crisper in your fridge is looking a tad threadbare: no leafy green vegetables, no fruits. The chiller and freezer are empty too: no meat or fish, fresh or frozen. Hence your dilemma.
You’re running out of food, yet you have too much food in the pantry.
This is where the ingenuity of pantry pasta comes in — assuming you have some dry pasta or any sort of dried noodles. These strands of carbohydrate, when reconstituted, will form the base of your lockdown meal.
Its sauce is basically made from whatever scraps (an excellent way to use up leftovers) and pantry staples you rarely touch. Hey, who says you can’t use up your canned chickpeas and eat them too?
CHICKPEA & CITRUS PANTRY PASTA
One variation of pantry pasta I love employs leftover slices or ends of lemons and limes. You might have sliced up the best parts for a cocktail (Zoom happy hour is a thing, it seems) or grated the skins for zest for a cake (goodness knows many of us are busily employed with lockdown baking).
So there are plenty of “ugly” bits and bobs of lemons and limes that are otherwise unused and sadly drying out in your fridge. The idea here is to use as much of these aromatic citrus as you like.
They work first to brighten up a pasta dish that is otherwise made from dry ingredients. For some of us who love our acids, we can never have too much lemon and lime juices hitting our palates.
The lemons are also why I’ve used cumin as the spice of choice here — besides its earthy, nutty aroma, ground cumin also has hints of lemon. So consider this gilding the lily. It’s entirely optional though; feel free to leave this out.
Chickpeas, particularly the canned variety, is another top panic buy. Only upon returning home do we realise it’s nothing like the piping hot steamed kacang putih we used to purchase outside our school gates as kids. Not when it comes out of a can and we have no clue what to do next.
Well, now there’s one way to use them up at least. Oh, and don’t throw away the viscous water from the can of chickpeas after draining it.
Known as aquafaba, this legume infused liquid – typically the cooking water chickpeas have been boiled in — can be used as a replacement for egg whites in cooking.
Whether you’re making a vegan “omelette” or egg-free meringues, it’ll be a shame to waste this ingredient that comes at no extra charge.
Speaking of vegan options, leave it as it is for a plant-friendly take. Meat lovers can clean up their pantry further by adding that last can of spicy tuna, luncheon meat or briny mussels.
Some might question whether a pasta dish can be truly vegan. The safe route is to read the packaging labels. Generally speaking, while fresh pasta contains eggs, the dry pasta we buy from supermarkets is made from just two ingredients: semolina flour and water. (That’s how they have a longer shelf life; eggs would add too much moisture.)
Instead of using tomato purée or tomato sauce like one often does for a pasta dish, I have chosen to use whole fresh tomatoes here, albeit chopped coarsely almost salsa-like.
That makes it more refreshing, though if canned tomatoes are all you have, use that instead.
Garnish with any fresh herbs you have — cilantro, rosemary, chopped up fronds of celery — before they too wither in the crisper.
Ingredients
Salt
250g pasta (any type will do; I prefer fettuccine here)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 tomato, coarsely chopped
Canned fish/meat/seafood (optional; also, skip this step to keep it vegan)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice
Grated zest from lemon and lime (optional)
Coarsely chopped fresh herbs (e.g. cilantro, rosemary)
Method
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once it’s at a rolling boil, salt it generously. Add your pasta. Stir continuously at the beginning so the pasta won’t stick; there’s no need to add oil to the water.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large non-stick pan. Add the ground cumin, stirring occasionally, and allow the dry spice to bloom to bring out its aroma.
After about a minute, add garlic and sauté until golden brown but not burnt. Add the drained chickpeas, chopped tomato and any canned fish/meat/seafood, if desired. Season with the black pepper and red pepper flakes; this adds a bit of heat and colour to the chickpeas.
Drain the pasta, reserving one cup of pasta cooking water. Add the pasta to the pan and toss with a pair of tongs to combine. Add some of the reserved pasta cooking water as needed to create the sauce and to prevent it from being too sticky.
The pasta cooking water is already heavily salted, there's no need to add more salt. However, do taste when nearly done and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Remove from heat and stir in the lemon and lime juices, grated zest (if using) and the fresh herbs. Toss again to combine. Plate and garnish with more fresh herbs if desired. Serve immediately.
For more Weekend Kitchen stories and recipes, visit https://lifeforbeginners.com/weekend-kitchen/.
