Dual Sauce Pasta

Hope you all had a wonderful Navaratri. I had a blissful time filled with pooja in the mornings and with some wonderful dance and music performances by the students of Temple of Fine Arts in the evenings. It has been 3 days since Vijayadasami but I still have not fully gotten out of the Navaratri mood yet!!  Hopefully getting back to blogging will help me parachute back to reality. So, here comes, with twice the processing power...err.. I mean , twice the goodness of your normal pasta - The Dual Sauce Pasta!!

You can taste the hot and spicy taste from the vegetable sauce and a nice creamy cheesy tangy, garlicky taste from the white sauce. I found this interesting recipe while watching the  Food Network show '30 minutes meal' hosted by Rachael Ray. Of course she used a meat sausage and some chicken stuff in her red sauce, but I tried it in my style with whole lot of vegetables.

Ingredients : 1/2 lb -- Pasta For Red Sauce 1 No -- Onion big size 1 No -- Roma tomatoes 1.5 to 2 cups -- Diced vegetables 1/2 cup -- Tomato puree 3 - 4 tsp -- Chili powder 100 gm -- Fresh paneer cubes (optional) 3-4 tbsp -- oil 1 tsp -- Garam masala powder 2-3 tsp -- lemon juice Salt to taste Few Cilantro to garnish For White Sauce 1 cup -- Milk 4 tbsp -- Butter 2 tsp -- All purpose flour 1 -2 pods -- Garlic 1/2 cup -- Cheese Black pepper and salt to taste Method : First comes the red vegetable sauce --- In a pan add the oil and heat the pan in a medium flame. Once it is hot add the paneer cubes and fry until the crust turns slightly brownish. --- Take the paneer out and keep it aside. In the same pan, add the diced onions and cook until the onions are soft. --- To the onions add cut vegetables and the diced tomatoes. I used beans, carrots, potatoes, frozen corns, green bell pepper and peas. --- Add tomato puree, chili powder, salt and little water to the vegetables and  cook until the vegetables are soften. --- I like to have a little heat in my veggie sauce, which will  balance out the creamy sauce. You can very much adjust the chili powder according to your taste. --- Add the fried paneer, garam masala powder and lemon juice and mix well. The colourful vegetable red sauce is ready. Now comes the White Sauce --- Before we start the sauce, cook the pasta as per the instruction given. You can try this recipe with any shape pasta. --- Take another pan in low flame, add butter. Once it is melted add couple of teaspoons of all purpose flour. This all purpose flour helps to thicken the white sauce. --- It will be good if you add the flour in initial stages, so that it will be cooked and also no lumps will be formed. --- Fry the flour until nice aroma comes from the butter flour mixture. --- Add a cup of milk to the mixture and cook. The milk will cook the flour further and  thicken the white sauce. If you need more sauce, you can dilute with water or more milk. --- Grate the garlic, and add to the white sauce along with salt and pepper. --- Add the cheese and mix well. Put the flame off and add the cooked pasta and mix well. How to serve --- Take the serving plate and put the creamy cheesy pasta in the middle of the plate. --- Make a well in the middle of the pasta --- Now scoop a big spoon full of vegetable sauce and pour into the pasta well. --- Garnish with chopped cilantro on top and serve warm.

The colours so attractive and inviting, everybody will love to dig into the pasta well and enjoy the colourful pasta.

Karuveppilai (Curry leaves) Pasta

Two day ago, I experimented this new recipe, since I wanted to finish a big bunch of curry leaf which was lying in the fridge for a week. And the result for my new attempt is this Indo Italian fusion recipe, Karuvepilai (curry leaf) pasta.

Though its only the trial version, Karthik enjoyed the pasta a lot. After having my first spoon, I was telling Karthik that something was missing. I want to correct it but will not do this recipe next time, because I am not a big fan of curry leaf recipes, so I didn't like it. As usual he encouraged me and had the pasta twice. Me, didn't go for second time :(

When you Cook for two, you will always end up with some left overs. This time, I ended up with little more than usual. The next day, I added some ingredients to the left-overs and had the same. It tasted very good. Hope you all can enjoy the same in the first trial itself.

Ingredients : 1/2 cup -- Curry leaves 3 tbsp -- Urad Dal 4 nos -- Red Chilli 1 tsp -- Dhania seeds 1 tsp -- Asafoetida 1 no -- Lemon Salt to taste Multi grain / Whole wheat Spaghetti -- Approximately 1/2 lb or less Method : --- Heat a non stick pan in medium heat. --- Add little oil to fry the urad dal, dhaniya seeda and red chilli. Fry them till the dal color changes to golden red. --- Let the mixture to cool. --- Meanwhile cook the pasta according to the direction given on the pack and keep it ready. --- Once the dal mixture is cooled, transfer them to mixer jar and grind along with the washed curry leaves. --- Add little water and grind to a paste consistency. --- Again take the same pan, add little oil and put the paste and fry them in medium heat till the raw curry leaf smell subsides and a nice aroma fills the kitchen. --- Karuvepilai (curry leaf) chutney is ready. Now mix this mixture to the pasta. --- If you feel the mixture is too dry to mix in pasta, add very little pasta water and mix well. --- Add the frsh lime juice to the pasta, to get the tinge of tangy taste.

Tadaan, Indo Italian fusion pasta ready to serve.


Hope you all guessed right. This is the same Karuvepilai chutney we prepare to mix in the rice. Instead of mixing it in the rice, I used pasta.
Okay, now I tell you what I did the next day to the left over pasta. I added lime juice and a dash of salt. I have mentioned the same above. Hope often I try this pasta at home :)

Mac and cheese cupcakes

A surprise gift from my husband and a silk saree along with sweet parcels from my in-laws, wishes and blessings from my parents, facebook messages, phone calls from friends, microwave oven from Karthik's friends, what else I will ask God on a birthday. Everybody made my day very special.

Since I was busy with the phone calls in the morning, I didn't cook anything for the lunch, did a simple yet delicious kesari. I like kesari a lot, my mom always make kesari on my birthday. I wanted to surprise my husband with the special food for the dinner.

I did a couple of different recipes which I did not tried before. One such recipe is this.
'Mac and cheese cupcakes' - These are cutie little pasta, cheese basket with some veggies in it.


Long time ago, I tried a similar kind of pasta cheese cupcakes in a baked potato basket. It was an experimental recipe, combining two different recipe which I saw in the Food network show. I named the new recipe as 'Potato Pasta Basket', you can find the recipe here. On my birthday I wanted to try the same recipe but wanted to have it simple. So I did cheese cupcakes without Potato basket. This is the Gaida's recipe from Food network program.

Ingredients : 2 cups --- Cooked pasta*** 1 cup --- Sharp Cheddar cheese 1 cup --- Mozzarella cheese 1 cup --- Cherry tomatoes halved 1 cup --- Spinach chopped nicely 1 cup --- Bread crumbs Olive oil to drizzle Salt and Pepper for taste ***Any kind of small shaped pasta, I used 100% wheat crown shaped coloured pasta. Cook the pasta as per the instruction given. Method : --- Preheat the oven to 370 F --- Grease the muffin tray and dust with the bread crumbs. This will help the cupcakes to take out of the pan easily, or else the cheese will stick into the pan a lot. --- Mix the spinach, tomatoes with salt and pepper and keep it aside. You can use any kind of vegetables in it. Blanched beans, broccoli, zucchini, eggplant ... --- Fill the half of the muffin pan with cooked pasta. --- Add some cheese of your favorite on top of the pasta. --- Now add the mixed veggies over the cheese and again top them with the cheese layer. --- Over the cheese layer, add left over pastas or veggies if any. Or else top them with the bread crumbs, approximately 11/2 to 2 tsp. --- Drizzle some olive oil on top of bread crumbs. --- Final layer again with loads of cheese. --- This is simply layering different veggies, pasta and cheese inside the small pan. --- Bake them for 12 - 15 minutes, untill the cheese are melt on top, also you can see golden brown color on sides. --- Before taking them out, give some time to cool the cupcakes.


Thanks to Gayathri, (Kitchen - The Chef's Paradise), when she called to wish me, she suggested me a key ingredient 'spinach' for this cup cakes, when I was stuck in a confused stage. You can hide more veggies inside the cheese and can make kids to eat. This Mac and Cheese cup cakes are kids friendly dish.
You can also serve these cutie little cupcakes as an appetiser for any party. Easy and different, I got more applause for these cuties !

Moroccan spaghetti

'Who does not love Pasta ?' Oh, no I am not asking the question to you, this is asked by DK in Chef in You, under her recipe Moroccan Spaghetti . The answer is Me. Once upon a time I was not a big fan of Pastas, but now it is directly opposite. All credits goes to DK.

I love to browse foodie sites a lot, one day when I was doing so I came across this wonderful colorful recipe. Specially the photo was eye catching. So I read the whole recipe and found it was very simple, hence decided to give it a try. The very next day went for shopping and searched for Spaghetti's in the Pasta section. Since it was first time me and my husband looked almost all the brand in the aisle and took a whole grain pasta pack. It was a funny nice experience. I even posted a blog about this, If you would like to read about that, click on Fun and Dreams blog.

Let me cut short the story and come directly to the recipe.

Multi grain / Whole wheat Spaghetti -- Approximately 1/2 lb or less

Cherry Tomatoes -- 1 cup

Onion -- 1 medium Size

Chick Peas -- 1 cup cooked

Cut Vegetables (carrot, Potato, Bell pepper) -- 1 cup**

Tomato Paste -- 2 tsp

Ginger Garlic Paste -- 1 tsp

Olive oil -- 1/4 cup
Chili Powder -- 2 tsp
Salt -- as per taste

Cilantro --  few bunch

Saffron -- a pinch

** I used a cup of vegetables, not used in the original recipe.

Method

-- Cook the spaghetti as per the instruction given on the pack

-- Until that cooks, in a pan saute the onions till it become soft. Then add the garlic and cook for a minute. This is to avoid the burning of Garlic.

Here is a quick tip. In case if you don't like garlic, you can put the whole garlic and cook for some minutes and you can take it out from the pan. before adding other ingredients.

-- If using vegetables, add them now and cook it until the veggies become tender or else you can even add the cooked veggies. If you are not using, skip this step and jump to next step.

-- Cut the cherry tomatoes into halves and add them to the pan along with the chili powder, salt and tomato paste.

-- Mix the saffron in little water and add the water to the paste. This is the one of a key ingredient which gives nice texture and aroma to the recipe.

-- Cook the above mixture for 5-8 minutes and add the cooked chick peas and cook for few minutes.

-- Now add the cooked spaghetti to the veggie pot and mix well.

-- That's it colorful Moroccan Spaghetti ready.

-- When serving add the cilantro and garnish them.

Isn't that dish so easy.

I am sending this recipe to Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes for the event 'Tried and Tasted - Chef In You'

Potato Pasta basket

Last week I tried a whole lot of new recipe.

Its totally a different one... I experimented a little and combined 2 recipes into one.
Some times you have to do experiment with food and others with your new innovations (like what I m doing with my Hubby)

First recipe : baked-macaroni-and-cheese-cupcakes
Second Recipe : Eggs in basket
(To check the both the recipes, click here : First and Second )

When I saw the recipes in Food network show, I liked both. Wanted to something different like these recipes. Did bit research to make it as vegan recipe and after some time, decided to combine both in to one. Since both had meat and eggs in it.

Ok let me tell you what I did in my “ Potato Pasta Basket “.

From the second recipe I took only the potato part. Grated some potato squeezed out all the waters from it. And made the basket in Muffin tray and baked it first.
And then instead of Eggs, I put boiled pasta, cheese, spinach and cherry tomatoes inside my baked potato.
Baked again as Gaida did in her first recipe.

End result, tadaaan …. Lovely colorful cheesy crispy potato basket with pasta with veggies in it.

Try this out and pls do write your comments to me !!!