The Korean Vegan garnered two million TikTok followers in under a year making it one of TikTok’s fastest-growing accounts. Creator, Joanne Lee Molinaro pulls from her own experiences to share empowering messages about life and heartwarming stories about her family all while sharing vegan recipes.

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ANGRY PENNE PASTA

SERVES 2 TO 4

DIFFICULTY: Easy

ALLERGENS: GFO, NF

When Anthony and I first started dating (neither of us was vegan), we used to frequent a small Italian cafe right by my apartment. During our very first meal there, I ordered the pasta arrabbiata—a glorious bowl of spaghetti coated in a fiery red sauce, topped with an ominous red chili pepper; the name “arrabbiata” literally translates into “angry pasta.” When I started experimenting with incorporating the flavors of my childhood into the Italian dishes my husband grew up eating, I immediately thought of how well gochujang and gochugaru would work as a base for a different kind of “angry pasta.”

1 (12-ounce) box penne pasta

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup chopped red onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 Korean red chili or serrano chili, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon gochugaru

1 tablespoon gochujang

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta and begin cooking according to the package directions.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the red onion, garlic, bell pepper, Korean chili, and salt and black pepper and cook until the onions become translucent, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes and more salt to the pot and continue stirring occasionally. Add the gochugaru and gochujang and stir until the vegetables are evenly coated. Add ¼ cup of the starchy pasta cooking water to the pot and stir.

4. Remove the vegetable mixture from the heat and blend the contents with an immersion blender (you can also transfer to a regular blender; be careful with the hot contents of the pot).

5. When the pasta has 1 more minute to go, drain the pasta and return to the pot. Set the pot over medium heat and add the blended sauce. Cook until the pasta is al dente.

From THE KOREAN VEGAN COOKBOOK: REFLECTIONS AND RECIPES FROM OMMA’S KITCHEN by Joanne Lee Molinaro, to be published on 10/12/2021 by Avery, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2021 Joanne Lee Molinaro