Rasta Pasta Recipe
This delicious, creamy vegan Jerk Rasta Pasta recipe is a well requested crowd favourite. It’s a simple dish made only more delicious with the coconut milk and spicy balance of the jerk marinade. Keep reading to find out how make this delicious dish.
WHAT IS RASTA PASTA?
Rasta is short for Rastafarian of course which is one of the main religions practiced in Jamaica. Traditional Rasta Pasta get’s its name from the beautiful colours of the bell peppers (red, green, yellow, orange). Red, Green and Yellow (Gold) are traditional colours representing Rastafarian culture and are of Pan-African origins. Red, Black and Green are the other set of Pan-African colours popularized by Marcus Garvey. You will notice many African and Caribbean (including Jamaica) countries with a combination of these colours.
The red represents the blood of black martyrs that were shed during their struggle for liberation, equal rights, and justice. Yellow (Gold) represents the wealth of the homeland, Africa. And of course the green represents the beauty and vegetation of the African continent.
So with that historical context in mind you want to make your vegan Jerk Rasta Pasta dish as colourful as possible with an assortment of bell peppers of different colours. Sadly when I was putting together the images for this post I was out of orange peppers but of course use what you have.
JERK SEASONING/MARINADE
In terms of the jerk seasoning or jerk marinade you can use any brand you like or make your own if you are brave enough. I have my own preferred brand (send a DM if you want to know or check my Instagram feed you will be sure to spot my favourite Jamaican brand of marinade.
A good jerk marinade is one that has a good balance of flavour and spice. There are some brands that go heavy on the spice and as much I love spice it needs to have good flavour to balance out the taste. The best jerk seasoning/marinade include the following ingredients: allspice, scotch bonnet peppers, thyme, nutmeg, scallion, garlic, etc.
SEA MOSS/IRISH MOSS
To add extra nutrition to this recipe I certainly recommend adding some sea moss. Sea moss serves two purposes: extra micro-nutrients and as a thickening agent. In case you weren’t aware it is commonly understood that our bodies are made up of 102 minerals. Sea moss is believed to contain 92 of those minerals – AMAZING RIGHT.
SEA MOSS BENEFITS
Some of those minerals are Calcium, Folate, Iron, Zinc, Manganese, Potassium, Selenium and various minerals. If you are not familiar sea moss is a type of algae which grows on the rocky parts the Atlantic coast, North America and the Caribbean. You may see it called by other names such as Irish moss, Chondrus Crispus or Carrageen moss (Irish carraigĆn, “little rock”). Just be sure you are buying your sea moss from a reputable source to avoid counterfeit. If you just want to thicken the creamy sauce you can skip the sea moss and just use traditional cornstarch mixed with a little bit of cold water.
WHAT PASTA TO USE?
You can certainly use any preferred type of pasta for this recipe; however penne is the recommended variety. Substitute for gluten free pasta if desired for dietary reasons.
WHAT TO ADD TO YOUR RASTA PASTA RECIPE
Feel free to add additional items to your rasta pasta i.e. mushrooms, tofu, broccoli, etc. Obviously this is a vegan blog so I do take issue when I see people do thinks like shrimp rasta pasta, oxtail rasta pasta, jerk chicken and the likes to a “rasta” dish. But to each his/her own I guess – lol!
Vegan Rasta Pasta
Ingredients
- 3-4 cup Penne Pasta Cooked per package instructions
- 1 Red Bell Pepper Julienned
- 1 Green Bell Pepper Julienned
- 1 Yellow Bell Pepper Julienned
- 1 Orange Bell Pepper Julienned
- 1 Medium Yellow Onion Chopped
- 1 Large Tomato Diced
- 1/2 cup Coconut Milk
- 2-3 tablespoon Jerk Seasoning adjust per tolerance
- 4 tablespoons Sea Moss Gel
- 3 Thyme
- 3 Garlic Minced
- 3 Scallion Sliced thin
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 teaspoon All Purpose Seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1 tablespoon Cornstarch
Instructions
Pasta
- Cook pasta according to package instructions
Jerk Pasta Sauce
- Add tomatoes, bell peppersā£
- Cook for 5-7 minutes
- Add jerk seasoning per your likingā£ and tolerance level (add a little at a time and taste)
- Add coconut milk and stir to mix inā£
- Add black pepper, salt, garlic powder, other seasoning and stirā£
- To thicken add sea moss and/or cornstarchā£ (mix with a little cold water)
- Taste and adjust seasoning if desired
- Add cooked penne and tossā£ to coat
- Serve and Enjoy šā¤ļøā£