When I was living in Japan, I occasionally had a craving for Napolitan spaghetti—a Japanese-style tomato sauce spaghetti. It has bacon, sausage, green pepper, and a strong tomato flavour from the sauce. I tried replicating it without adding any meat, but 4 colours bell peppers!
I was a pepper-hater because none of them were sweet and tasted raw, probably because of the Chinese high-heat cooking technique in which the peppers were cooked for a short time and still tasted raw.
Key to Delicious Napolitan
With the help of some cookbooks and countless roasting of peppers, now I know the secret and key to this delicious Napolitan is to slowly coax out the sweetness of the onions and peppers first, so to eliminate the greenish and astringent taste. If given enough time, they can be very sweet and don’t need excessive seasoning or dressing.
Now, let’s dive into the Japanese Napolitan recipe!
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 150 g spaghetti
- 180 g mix colour sweet peppers, chunked
- ½ small onion, sliced
- 1 tomato, roughly chopped
- 80 g canned tomato
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 dried chilli, deseeded
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp pasta water
- salt and pepper
- ½ tsp sugar
- parmigiano reggiano
How to Make
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Sauté the onion, bell peppers, and fresh tomato. Season with black pepper, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Cook until softened.
- Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil, add 1% salt and cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions.
- Return to the pan. The onion should be lightly browned, the tomato softened, and the peppers tender. Push them to one side, add a little more oil, and fry the garlic and chili until fragrant.
- Add canned tomatoes and ketchup, simmer for 2-3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Stir in the cooked spaghetti. Add more olive oil, salt, and pasta water if needed. Finish with freshly cracked black pepper and cheese before serving.
