I love all things Chinese food, but had never tried Kung Pao anything before. Mainly because I am a picky (ie. wussy) eater and I don’t like trying new things, especially if I’m told that they are super-spicy. I want to enjoy eating my food, not drowning my mouth in ice-cold water. But I had bought a new sauce and decided it was time to bite the spicy bullet and make some vegan and gluten-free Kung Pao Roasted Veggies and Tofu.
The pao of this meal is in the sauce. The ready-made Szechuan sauce that is. I had a coupon for the brand and wanted to get some new sauces into rotation and decided to try it. Just dipping my finger into the sauce and tasting it, it’s spicy. Not overbearing, but it’s got a kick to it. I looked for a good kung pao recipe online and there were so many different ones that I just decided to add my fave flavors to the sauce and added a little extra kick with some red pepper flakes. I also decided to try a couple of other new-to-me items – baked tofu and bean pasta. The tofu comes already baked/prepared so you don’t have to do anything to it, just toss into your meal. It is super convenient but I like adding stuff to my tofu and sauteing until super-crispy (ie. almost burned), but it pared perfectly with this meal, and was one less step of having to cook something which is really nice. I also tried an all-bean noodle. I had coupons for this product too, and decided to give the spaghetti noodle a try and wow is it awesome, and all the types of this noodle are full of protein and gluten-free. The perfect addition to any pasta family.
Kung Pao Roasted Veggie Pasta
For the Roasted Veggies
- 2 bags frozen cauliflower, defrosted
- 6 carrots, sliced
- 1 green pepper, sliced
- 1 small head cabbage, sliced
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1/2 tablespoon black pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
For the Sauce
- 2 tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar
- 1/4 cup tamari
- 1/4 cup San-J Gluten-Free Szechuan Sauce, or your favorite szechuan sauce,
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped
- 2 tablespoon Splenda, or your favorite no or low calorie sweetener
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- Vegetable broth, as needed
For the Pasta
- 1 package Nasoya Sesame Ginger Baked Tofu, or your favorite baked tofu
- 1 package Explore Asia Soybean Spaghetti, or your favorite noodles
Preparation
- Set oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Lay the vegetables on a baking sheet. Sprinkle olive oil over both trays then sprinkle spices evenly over both trays.
- Use your clean hands to mix veggies so everything is coated.
- Bake for 45 minutes, stopping in the middle to mix vegetables.
- After the veggies are mixed set water to boil for noodles; follow package directions.
- Add chopped green onions and minced garlic to a pot with about a 1/4 cup veg broth. Let saute until soft.
- Add sauce ingredients with more broth as needed to loosen the sauce up.
- Turn to low heat. Slice baked tofu into small slices.
- Portion out noodles, then veggies and tofu, then pour sauce over top. Or mix everything together in a big ole pot.
- Enjoy!