A spicy creamy sauce tossed with pasta and served up with sautéed mushrooms, tomatoes and onions is a vegetarian version of an authentic Peruvian meal.
½aji limo or other spicy pepper sliced into thin rings
3tablespoonsred wine vinegar
3tablespoonssoy sauce
1 ½teaspoonsoyster sauce
2tablespoonscilantro leaveschopped
Other ingredients
12ouncelinguine noodles or tallarines
Instructions
Make the sauce
Heat up one teaspoon of the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic for the sauce to the pan and cook until translucent and soft.
Place the remaining olive oil, aji amarillo paste, soy milk and queso fresco in the blender and process until smooth. Add salt and pepper as desired. Set aside until ready to serve.
Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package to al dente and drain well when it is cooked.
While pasta is cooking, cook the mushroom saltado.
Mushroom saltado
In a small bowl combine vinegar, soy sauce, aji and oyster sauce. Stir to mix. Prep all the vegetables for the saltado following the descriptions in the ingredient list. Gather all the ingredients together that are needed for the saltado before starting to cook.
Heat 1 tablespoon sunflower oil in a large skillet until hot. When the oil is hot, almost smoking, add onions and garlic. Stir quickly as the vegetables are cooking.
Once the onions begin to soften, add the mushrooms and tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes or so stirring frequently.
When vegetables are cooked to crisp tender, add the vinegar and soy sauce mixture and cook for 60 seconds until heated through and vegetables are cooked to desired consistency. Add the cilantro and toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve
When everything is ready, toss the pasta with the huancaina sauce and serve with the mushroom saltado on top.
Notes
Tips for BEST Results:To make the saltado, have all the ingredients prepped and measured out ready to add to the pan. It cooks extremely quickly so you won’t have time to stop and prep during the cooking.Use a wok if you have one. The vegetables cook so much better using a wok. A wok contains a small surface that touches the heat source and high sides. This combination allows the vegetables to move from high temperature cooking to cooler temperatures on the sides and results in delicious crisp vegetables. Cooking with a wok does require almost constantly moving the food in the pan so that all the vegetables get cooked.Keep the sauce at room temperature and don’t cook it. Simply toss it with the hot pasta to warm it up before you serve up your meal. If you make the sauce ahead of time and refrigerate, let it sit on the counter a bit to warm it up.