ナポリタン (napolitan) pasta is said to have originated at hotel new grand in Yokohama (!) by a chef inspired by the cuisine eaten at the US generals headquarters during the allied occupation of Japan. today, it remains a simple and popular dish often found at "cafe" style restaurants or kissaten.
despite its name, derived from "neopolitan" (presumably referring to Naples, Italy), as far as authentic italian pasta dishes go, i would describe napolitan pasta as borderline criminal. compared to a typical tomato sauce-based pasta, napolitan pasta is milder and sweeter- chiefly, because it substitutes rich tomato sauce for the timeless combination of ketchup and milk.
while this probably feels sacrilegious for the sophisticated pasta consumer, this simplification makes napolitan pasta incredibly easy to put together and especially accessible for those in college dorms/apartments where tomato sauce might not have made the grocery list, but ketchup and milk sure did! if you're looking for a quick, easy, japanese-ish dish, this is the recipe for you.
INGREDIENTS (makes ~4 servings)
- 2 onions
- 4 small bell peppers
- meat (usually sausage/ham, i used bacon)
- any other vegetables (mushrooms, spinach, etc)
- vegetable oil
- pasta
SAUCE (rough ratio, to taste)
- 8 tbsp ketchup
- 6 tbsp milk
- 1 spoonful soy sauce
- 1 spoonful sugar
- a little salt
- **optional mirin, tonkatsu/oyster sauce, consome, etc
1. prep the ingredients! slice the onions and peppers into long skinny pieces.
2. drizzle oil in the pan and cook the onions on medium low heat. cook until they are soft and partially translucent.
3. add the peppers and mushrooms to the onion pan and continue cooking. cook the bacon in a separate pan on medium heat.
4. combine the sauce ingredients. i did about 8 heaping spoonfuls of ketchup and 6 of soymilk, but i would suggest tasting as you go! i also put in a spoonful of sugar, salt, mirin, and soy sauce. i think american ketchup tastes a little different, so you might have decrease the salt/sugar ratios accordingly.
once the bacon and vegetables are fully cooked, combine the contents of the pans and pour the sauce over the top. cook on low for a few more minutes.
5. boil pasta. maybe you should've done this step earlier, but i set aside the sauce and ate it for dinner so that is why this is the very last step, a few hours later.
6. combine and serve, 出来上がり ! ~ or you know, if we really want to commit to the psuedo-italian nature of this dish, ボナペティ >:-]
look at this special slideshow can u tell i'm fully enjoying the diversity of wix site photo layouts
if you've read this entire article and are sTILL hungry for more napolitan related content, i recommend this video by nanako linked below (and her whole channel- very chill and unfiltered.) the dullness of her knife will probably cause pj and kenny to age prematurely but the end product looks delicious!! for the sauce, she combines ketchup and milk with a 2:1 ratio and adds sugar, soy sauce, tonkatsu sauce, and コンソメ (consome? the clear soup broth pellets).
okay that is all :-) this is the most college-kid friendly japanese recipe i could think of; if you try it yourself, let me know how it goes. if you have stumbled across this recipe by chance and don't know who i am, i don't want you to feel left out of the napolitan pasta community so i guess slide into my dms @laurakuffner on instagram with a photo of your pasta creation and i will probably reply within 18-21 business days.
until then..!
sincerely,
gourmet chef "little italy" laura
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