Carbonara-adjacent Pasta

thingslinadoes

idk i had to call it something

Cook TIme 25

Cuisine Asian Fusion

Servings 2

Separate egg yolks from whites, and set aside ¹
In a saucepan, add just enough water to cook pasta and bring to boil. Then cook noodles until a bit before preferred doneness. Reserve some pasta water, and drain the rest out ²
In same pan over low/med-low heat, combine soy sauce and mirin. While stirring, add starch slurry.³Then, add yolks and thoroughly mix to incorporate
1/2 tbsp potato starch (mixed with + 1 tbsp water to make slurry)
Continue stirring slowly but constantly for a few minutes, essentially lightly and evenly cooking yolks (sign it's cooked the right amount: sauce goes from pooling at bottom of pan to leaving streak marks, but easily wiped away with a stir of the noods)
1.5 tbsp soy sauce, 1.5 tbsp mirin
Thoroughly mix in a few tbsp of pasta water to loosen / add volume to the sauce
Off the heat, mix in white pepper and a drizzle of sesame oil to taste

Egg whites freeze surprisingly well, so you can freeze them to save for another recipe, like these extra cronchy candied pecans
If you plan on using pasta water for a sauce (like in this recipe), less water used to boil pasta = more concentrated starches, aka better thickening properties
Heat activates starches to thicken, so if you add starch straight to heated liquid, it'll clump. Making a slurry with water lets the starch particles separate and diffuse evenly in heated liquid

Keyword carbonara, mirin, pasta, recipe, soy sauce