Thursday, December 11, 2014

VEGGIE PASTA SOUTH INDIAN STYLE/ CHEESE-LESS PASTA

                           
                            Pasta is usually made with loads of cheese, making it loaded with fat. Even low fat cheese has fat (of course!!). Here is an effort to make it cheese-less!          

                           Pasta's native is Italy and there are a variety of pastas ranging from fresh pasta (chitarrine caserecce, tagliatelline caserecce, lasangnette caserecce etc), egg pasta (lasangnette, pappardelle, tagliatelle etc) short pasta (macaroni, farfalle, fusilli etc) and minute pasta (filini, gramigna, lancette etc). I've used a short pasta (farfalle, it is a bow-tie shaped pasta) for the recipe. This recipe calls for a lot of veggies and a few South Indian spices too.
Recipe ref : Dishesfrommykitchen
Here are two links that tells about the common mistakes in cooking pasta and the type of sauce for various pastas.




VEGGIE PASTA RECIPE

INGREDIENTS
Cooked Farfalle (or any other pasta) - 2 cups
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dal/ Ulundu - 1/2 teaspoon
Onion (finely chopped) - 1 medium sized
Hing/ Asafoetida - a pinch (optional)
Curry leaves - a few
Green chilly (slit lengthwise) - 1 no
Tomato (finely chopped) - 1 medium sized
Mixed veggies (chopped) - 1&1/2 cup (i used 4 mushrooms, 1/2 carrot & a few cauliflower florets)
Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
Sambhar powder - 3/4 teaspoon
Red chilly powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Tomato sauce/ ketchup - 1 teaspoon
Coriander leaves (finely chopped) - a few sprigs
Salt - as required

METHOD
1. Cook the pasta in boiling water (refer package innstruction) with a bit of salt. Strain in a metal strainer and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok and crackle mustard seeds. Put in urad dal and let it turn brown. Now, add finely chopped onions, asafoetida, green chilly, curry leaves in order. Saute for a minute.
3. Throw in chopped tomatoes and cook till mushy (cook covered).
4. Add in the veggie mixture, turmeric powder, sambhar powder, red chilly powder and salt in order. Cook covered for a minute or till they are just cooked but crunchy (Give a stir in between).  Cook in medium high.
5. Now add in the cooked pasta and tomato sauce. Blend it well.
6. Toss for a few more minutes or you can very well skip this step. Switch off the stove and top with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot.

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