“He doesn’t like vegan food.”

That was what my husband has said multiple times about our son, and just about every time I have to correct him. Doesn’t he remember the vegan sausages the teenager destroyed on a fridge raid, or the red beans and rice that almost always prompt him to go back for seconds, even thirds?

Besides, saying someone doesn’t like vegan food is saying that they don’t like, say, rice. Or strawberries. So many foods, of course, contain no animal products at all, and pretty much everybody eats them pretty much all the time, without even thinking twice.

I know what people really mean when they say this. They mean that what they (or somebody else) don’t like is a vegan meal. And even then, I’m not so sure. Haven’t they had, for example, a vegetable paella that knocked their socks off?

So much of the time, the key to making dishes that the teenager will appreciate involves not necessarily including his favorite proteins, steak and chicken wings, but making sure that the basic flavor profile is up his alley. Once I knew what a lemon lover he is, for instance, I knew I could get him to like broccoli that I soaked in a lemony vinaigrette.

What else does he like that I might draw from? When I pondered the question, I remembered how he adores Jamaican food, particularly jerk chicken, and is a pasta Alfredo aficionado. He also has been known to try his own hand at making a stir-fry of ground beef and bell peppers. Those three elements led me pretty quickly to the idea of Rasta pasta.

This relatively modern Jamaican dish got its name, at least according to one version of the legend, because the tri-colored bell peppers reminded eaters of the colors of the Rasta flag adopted by the Rastafarian movement. It’s often vegetarian, with a cream sauce, Scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, and jerk spices.

I worked with food writer Brigid Washington on a delightful version for my upcoming cookbook that uses coconut milk instead of cream, keeping its tropical vibe fully intact. But I know this fitness-minded teenager is also interested in keeping up his protein intake. Did I dare make it with tofu or tempeh? Would that be a dealbreaker?

There was only one way to find out. I went with tempeh, partly because I thought it would probably be unknown enough that perhaps it wouldn’t carry any baggage. I doubted that there were any TikTok bros he follows who railed against it. I love tempeh, but I know it can be somewhat of an acquired taste, so I decided to crumble it and pan-fry it first — to give it an appealing texture. With the punchy jerk seasoning and chile-pepper heat making such a loud statement, I figured he wouldn’t be put off by tempeh’s earthy flavor, either.

The first time I cooked it, I almost got busted. I was frying the tempeh, and the teenager came into the kitchen and said, “What’s that?”

“It’s a kind of mushroom,” I said, hoping that the memory of Caruso’s Alfredo might keep attitudes open. (Well, they are related; besides tasting nutty and mushroomy, tempeh is bound by a net of white mycelium that grows during fermentation.)

A few minutes later, the dish was ready, and I texted him to come back downstairs for dinner. He’s pretty subdued with his food reactions, so I knew I had hit gold when I heard, “That’s pretty good.” (That’s his version of banging a fist on the table in delight.) Even better, he went back to the skillet a second time, and a third.

There’s another, important bonus to this dish: In a family where one person is vegetarian, one eats everything but pork and red meat, and the other eats everything but pork and shrimp, it satisfied all three of us. That’s what I would consider an outright triumph.

Rasta Pasta With Tempeh Crumbles

This vegan version of a popular Jamaican vegetarian dish — pasta with multicolored bell peppers in a creamy sauce — adds crumbled tempeh, which takes well to the intense jerk spice, for an extra dose of protein and texture. (According to one story, the dish earned its name because the peppers reminded eaters of the Rasta flag of the Rastafarian movement.) If you prefer a milder dish, feel free to leave out the habanero.

4 to 6 servings

Total time: 45 mins

Storage: Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Notes: To make your own jerk seasoning, combine 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and a pinch of cayenne. If using store-bought jerk seasoning that contains salt, taste the dish before adding salt.

Ingredients

1/4 teaspoon fine salt, plus more as needed

8 ounces dried penne, preferably a high-protein version such as Barilla Protein Plus

1 tablespoon olive oil

12 ounces tempeh, crumbled

1 medium yellow onion (8 ounces), chopped

1/2 habanero pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped (optional)

2 tablespoons jerk seasoning (see Notes)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced

1 orange bell pepper, seeded and sliced

1 (13.5-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk, preferably full-fat

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 1 lime), plus more to taste

Steps

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and drain.

While the water is boiling and the pasta is cooking, in a large (12-inch), deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the tempeh and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Add the onion and habanero and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the jerk seasoning and salt and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add all the bell peppers and cook, stirring frequently, until they start to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the coconut milk, stir to combine and, if the pasta is not ready yet, turn off the heat and cover the skillet to keep warm.

Transfer the cooked pasta to the skillet with the pepper mixture and return to medium-high heat. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat so it’s at a simmer and cook until the sauce thickens slightly and the pasta is tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add as much of the reserved pasta water as you need to loosen the sauce until it coats the pasta. Stir in the lime juice. Taste, and season with more salt and/or lime juice as needed.

Divide among bowls and serve hot.

Substitutions:

Penne >> rigatoni, ziti, fettuccine, linguine.

Tempeh >> tofu or mushrooms.

Multicolored bell peppers >> one type/color of bell pepper.

Habanero >> Scotch bonnet pepper.

To make it less spicy >> leave out the habanero.

To make it more spicy >> keep the habanero seeds and/or increase to one whole pepper.

Gluten-free? >> Use gluten-free pasta.

To make it lower-carb >> look for low-carb pasta.

Nutrition | Per serving (1 1/2 cups), based on 6: 410 calories, 44g carbohydrates, 0mg cholesterol, 20g fat, 6g fiber, 21g protein, 11g saturated fat, 146mg sodium, 7g sugar

This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice.

From Food and Dining editor Joe Yonan.