This is the recipe for the most delicious Japanese pasta carbonara

Sure, we all know the Italian pasta carbonara. But have you heard of ‘Japanese pasta carbonara’? It’s an incredibly delicious dish with many different versions. Our favorite version comes from the (wonderful!) book Carbs, carbs, carbs by Meike Krüger.

For this recipe, you need a few ingredients you may not know yet (furikake, katsuobushi, dashi). That’s why we’ll briefly explain them below.

Katsuobushi

This is dried, fermented and smoked tuna that is often used as a seasoning in Japanese cuisine. Available at Asian grocery stores. Online at Amazing Oriental.

Dashi

Dashi is a stock from Japanese cuisine and usually consists of kombu (seaweed) and dried tuna or shiitake. Available in powdered form at any Asian grocery store or Japanese shop. Or make it yourself:

1. Soak the kombu in a pan with 1 litre of cold water for about 15 minutes. Then bring it almost to the boil. At that point, remove the pan from the heat and take out the kombu.
2. Add the bonito flakes and bring everything to the boil. As soon as the stock boils, turn off the heat. Leave the stock to cool for at least 1 hour and pour it through a fine sieve. Store the cooled stock covered in the refrigerator. You can also freeze the stock very well.

• If you haven’t already, make the dashi. Or use store-bought dashi and dissolve it in 80 millilitres of boiling water.
• Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Once the water is boiling, add the sea lavender and blanch for about 2 minutes. Remove the sea lavender from the water with a slotted spoon and keep it in ice-cold water until needed.
• Bring the water to the boil again and add the salt once it boils. Cook the bucatini according to the package instructions until just shy of al dente. Drain, reserving a ladleful of the cooking water.
• Meanwhile, mix the dashi with the miso and the gochujang in a bowl until smooth.

• Drain the pasta, reserving half a ladleful of the cooking water. Return the pasta and cooking water to the pan and stir in the sauce, Parmesan and beaten egg yolks. Finally, add the sea lavender, mix gently and heat through briefly.
• Divide the pasta between the plates and garnish with the furikake and katsuobushi. Serve.

Tip: For a vegetarian version, leave out the katsuobushi.