Simple meals | Orecchiette in Arrabbiata sauce

Dear Foodies,

I try to cook almost everyday since time in the kitchen helps me unwind and relax. Keeping track of what ingredient goes next, what needs to be washed, chopped, grated, pureed...enough salt ? spice ? With all that happening there's no choice but to throw out all of the days worries. At the end of it all there is a nice meal to enjoy as well, so its a win-win. That does not apply to the clean up that follows, but lets not go there. On days when I want a meal done asap all inspiration is lost on me though. I get into a mechanical mode reaching out for a few selective dishes. There is no energy expended in planning for them. Traditional Indian meals that my mom made fall under that category for the most part - Pappu or chaaru or sambar and plain annam (rice), a quick stir-fry of cabbage or beans, kichadi + kadhi are some of them.

Over the last few years I have added a few more dishes into this category. I make a mixed veg quinoa quite often throwing in any veggies I have on hand and the first masala I find in the spice cabinet. And then there is pasta...

it could be the new rice...the new guilty pleasure :) And I say that as I don't always be good and use whole wheat pasta. But whichever one you choose its always quick to make as most dry pastas cook in less than 10-12 mins. And more often and not that's how long I take to prepare a sauce to go with it. So with that I start this 'Simple meals' category which will make use of pantry ingredients and not take too much hands on time.

There is this tiny cafe next to the grocery store I shop at and they make the best gnocchi I've had. Its served in an arrabbiata sauce that has the right amount of heat and the gnocchi ...oooh the gnocchi. It just melts in your mouth and it has a snow like grating of cheese on top that seals the deal. This weekend when the weather was gloomy and cold all I wanted was a warm plate of pasta in a zesty sauce. I did not have gnocchi and so I used orecchiette but feel free to use any pasta you have on hand. Its the sauce that is the magic component here.

Orecchiette in Arrabbiata sauce

Cooking time - 20mins

Servings - 2 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups - Orecchiette (or any dry pasta) 
• 4 - Plum tomatoes
• 2 - Garlic, cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp - Red chilli flakes
• 1/4 tsp - Dried Oregano
• 2 Tbsp - Olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Pinch of sugar
• Toasted pine nuts
• 5-6 - Basil leaves, chopped
• Freshly grated Parmesan/Asiago cheese

Method:

1. Bring water to a rolling boil in a deep pot, add about a Tbsp of salt, dry pasta and give it a stir. Cook per package instructions.
2. In the mean time, add oil to a pan along with garlic and red chilli flakes. As they begin to sizzle add chopped tomatoes and a small pinch of sugar. Continue to cook until the tomatoes soften and break down. Crush oregano in your palm and add to the sauce and season with salt to taste.
3. Save about 1/2 cup pasta water and drain the pasta a minute or two before its done. Add it to the tomato sauce along with 1/4 cup reserved pasta water and continue to cook until pasta is al dente. Add more water as needed to achieve desired consistency.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with chopped basil, toasted pine nuts and fresh grated cheese.

This is an uncomplicated, hearty meal for a cold, gloomy day. Arrabbiata is nothing but a spicy marinara and this sauce can be used as a dipping sauce or on pizza's as well. There are very few ingredients in this recipe and so each of them counts. Use plump, ripe tomatoes is available, canned tomatoes will also work. Fresh basil and toasted pine nuts complete the dish. I love pine nuts and usually add a few extra to my bowl. The basil, shockingly came from my ever-brown garden. I had given up on the basil and had even stopped watering the plants and surprisingly I saw it spring back to life. The cheese is optional but a light sprinkle on warm pasta is tempting. What are your go-to simple meals ?

Pasta with roasted veggies

Dear foodies,

Pasta's are my go-to dishes most nights. Simple to prepare and they hold well until next day's lunch too. There is no fixed recipe that I follow for it, I toss in vegetables and spices in random depending on my mood that night and its ready. Most often its a warm and spicy dish but sometimes I turn it into a cold salad too, especially when using orzo or cous cous. The only time I looked for a recipe was when I made lasagna for the first time I guess. But even with that, once you know the method you can start experimenting.

I am not a fan of pasta's drowned in sauces though, specially in a bland & boring tomato sauce. If I buy marinara style sauces I use them over pizza's or other dishes but never with pasta. Spaghetti and marinara is known to be such a classic combo, but I have it stuck in my brain that the combo sucks :D When I order pasta in the restaurants I have it either with a flavorful pesto or with roasted veggies where you can taste each ingredient and not have to go fishing for it in a sauce and making a mess around you :) I know I am exaggerating, but still :D I prefer to make my pasta dry, with loads of veggies in it. A very convenient way to incorporate them into my daily quota when its a one-pot dish that I am making. As an added bonus the resulting dish is much more colorful.

Pasta with roasted vegetables

Ingredients:

• 2 cups - dry Pasta, I used chiocciole
• 1 cup - Chickpeas, pre-cooked or canned
• 1 cup - Red bell pepper, diced
• 1 no - medium sized Yellow squash, cubed
• 1/2 cup - Onions, cubed
• 1/4 tsp - Garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp - Red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp - Cumin powder
• 1 Tbsp - Olive oil
  
• Salt to taste
• Cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Boil water for the pasta, add salt, pasta and cook until al dente. Don't salt the water until it comes to a boil or it will never come to a 'boil'. Meanwhile, heat a wide pan with the oil, add the garlic and red pepper flakes when the oil is still cold. This infuses the oil with their flavors as it heats up.
2. Drain and pat the chickpeas dry with a tissue. Add it to the oil and saute on medium high heat until the chickpeas start to brown. Add the onions and red bell pepper next and saute a little longer until the soften and also start to char around the corners.
3. The yellow squash goes in next as it takes lesser time to cook. Also add needed salt and cumin powder now. Adjust the amount of cumin to your liking, it gives the veggies a warm and smoky flavor.
4. When the pasta is done, drain it well. Reserve about a 1/4th of the cooking liquid and add it to the veggies. Toss in the cooked pasta and combine, the added liquid will help bring them together and flavor the pasta as well. Mix well to incorporate the veggies and then cooked undisturbed for a couple of minutes so the pasta gets a slight char too. Turn off the heat and garnish with cilantro and serve warm :)

I totally enjoyed eating this pasta dish and like how it turned out. Whenever I add chickpeas to a dish I cook it this way so it has a little crunch to it and is not a complete mush. The charred veggies along with the smoky cumin were an excellent pairing. The slight browning on the pasta worked really well too and it gave it a different texture. The shape of the pasta I used is called chiocciole, meaning shells in Italian. It added to the fun of the dish cos the chickpeas found a cozy corner to nestle into. Do you see them peeking out of the pasta ? :D

With spring coming right up with its bounty of vegetables, you can play around with the combination. I am sure some roasted asparagus would be really good in this. You could conveniently use the oven to roast the veggies and finish it off in a pan on the stove top. I went to a Italian cooking class yesterday and got this interesting tidbit about selecting red peppers. Look on the side of the red pepper opposite to the stem, select one that has 4 or more points. The more points it has the sweeter the pepper is supposed to be. So next time you visit the store, start counting, I surely will :D



This dish is off to Soma who is hosting HHDD this month at her blog. Its an event facilitated by Bron and she was the winner last month :) Its time for all of you to come out with your delicious pasta recipes now :)

Faux fried rice

Dear foodies,

This is a no-fuss weekday quickie meal that I whipped up a few nights back. Not much of a recipe here, just throwing together of a bunch of ready made, quick cooking ingredients to make something tasty. I usually try to avoid rice and stick to whole grains or light dinners during the night. But sometimes you just feel like eating rice, its a comfort issue. I've been enjoying it all my life and its tough to totally remove it from my menu and I definitely don't intend to do any such thing either. Now and then its possible to trick your mind though. All your senses play a role in the act of eating and its not just the taste-buds going on a overdrive. So by substituting rice with rice shaped pasta, orzo, I can get myself to think it is rice, if only for a few moments before I taste it :)

I use orzo quite often, any pasta for that matter, because I love it and sometimes I am just too lazy to cook rice and a side dish separately. With pasta you can toss together some veggies, a mix of spices and end up with a wholesome meal. Its a lot quicker and offers much more flexibility to me, I get to use up a lot of veggies- fresh, frozen or leftovers, and use a mix of condiments that I would otherwise not use with white rice. Here I used a Nasi goreng curry paste, its a condiment used for making Malaysian style fried rice with the word itself meaning 'fried rice' in Malay. My grandmother lived in Malaysia and Singapore for quite a few years and I have heard many stories from her of her life there. Part of those stories was also the food she enjoyed and Nasi Goreng featured prominently, atleast it was one of the words that stuck. The moment I saw this curry paste on the grocery store aisle, I picked it up so I could try it out and tell her about it. So here's the faux fried rice I made with it, faux, since there is no rice involved :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cups - Orzo
• 3/4 cup - Mixed vegetables - I used frozen thai style veggies: beans, sprouts, chestnuts, carrots and broccoli
• 1/2 tsp - Oil
• 1 tsp - Nasi goreng paste or any Thai curry paste
• 1 tsp - Soy sauce (optional)
• 1/2 tsp - thai chilli paste (optional)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method:

1. Bring some water to a boil, add salt and orzo and cook till the pasta is al dente.
2. Meanwhile, thaw the frozen vegetables, either in the microwave or by placing them at room temp for sometime. Heat a pan with the oil on medium heat, add the curry paste and saute for 30secs. Add the veggies, increase the heat and saute trying to retain some crunch in the veggies. Next add the soy sauce, chilli paste and freshly ground pepper.
3. Drain the cooked pasta and add it to the vegetables, stir well, check for seasonings and serve hot!

This fried rice pasta was extremely flavorful. The curry paste was not overwhelming, and I just love freshly ground pepper in my fried rice recipes and this was no exception. The pasta paired really well with all the other ingredients and made for a enjoyable meal. Other recipes that I have used orzo in are this soup and salad and this other time that I used a thai curry paste instead. Now out with your quick fixes? What ready made condiments do you use, if any ?

Roasted cherry tomatoes with pasta

Dear foodies,

How do you like your pasta ? For me most times its just whats lying in my veggie crisper. I just throw things together, add some spices and toss in the pasta. Or its in a soup, and sometimes baked. But for the most part I do not follow a recipe. In the summer I bought a lot of fresh produce from the local organic store like, zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, beans, peppers, snow peas and made quite a few pasta lunches and dinners out of them, either lightly stir frying them or roasted in the oven. Summer does put a dash of freshness in everything it brings to life.

I am still seeing tiny baskets loaded with the cherry tomatoes in the market. A few weeks back I bought yet another bunch of these home, they are a thing of beauty, bursting with juices and a little coaxing with some heat results in a sweet and tangy flavor explosion. I've roasted them in the oven quite a few times and more often than not they get eaten in the tasting stage itself before turning into a relish or pasta sauce :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups - Cherry tomatoes
• 2 nos - Garlic cloves
• 1 Tbsp - Olive oil
• 2 tsp - dried Basil - substitute with fresh when available
• 1 tsp - Red chili lakes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 cup - cooked pasta of your choice - any short size pasta/spaghetti/angel hair will work
• Grated cheese for serving - optional

Method:

1. Pre-heat the over to 400F. Wash and pat dry the cherry tomatoes, spread them over a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil along with the two cloves of garlic. Coat them well with 2 tsp of olive oil, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and basil. Roast in the oven for 15-20 mins, until they start to pop and get a slight char on the skins.
2. In the meanwhile bring water to a boil in a saucepan, add salt and cook the pasta to al dente. Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of cooking liquid.
3. Once the tomatoes are ready, heat a shallow pan with the remaining 1tsp of oil over medium heat. Add the red chilli flakes so it flavors the oil, give it about 1/2 -1 min without burning. Squeeze out the garlic cloves into the pan and add about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. The garlic will eventually melt into the water.
4. Add the tomatoes next and stir, crushing a few of them with the back of your spoon. Simmer for a minute, check for seasonings. Toss in the pasta to coat well with the sauce, turn off the heat and serve warm with some garlic bread on the side. Top it with grated cheese if you like.
   

This was one of my weekend lunches. I had some white bread that I made a few days back. I cut a couple of slices and toasted them in the oven after the tomatoes were done. Once they turned golden I took them out and rubbed a raw garlic clove against them making a simple garlic toast to go with the pasta, yumm! I love tangy flavors and this pasta was really good with the concentrated tomatoes and the tiny char bits in it. I added some fresh mint leaves for garnish but totally hated it, it was way to strong for the tomatoes.

Now leaving you with the memory of another beautiful evening...

Seven days, seven posts, and I am a happy girl already :) Lets see how far I take it...

Bambino or vermicelli..!

Dear foodies,

I din't know bambino wasn't the name of the product but just the brand name until a few years back. Just like how maggi == noodles until I discovered Italian cuisine :P and LG== hing/asafoetida! I started taking notice of the word vermicelli on the pack only after I came here I think...hmm, until then it was just a word in the jingle. How many of you thought the same ? (please don't single me out) But well, whats in a name, its the taste that matters. I absolutely love
bambino
...err vermicelli upma, its such a simple and tasty breakfast/tiffin item and ...its quick! It is one of my favorite lunch box dishes too, just as good served cold and I like it with a sprinkling of sugar on top, no, not the powdered sugar we usually find here, but the granular kind that lends a nice crunch.

So if you need a breakfast idea or even a evening tiffin for this weekend, here's one

another day, another version...

Ingredients :

• 1 cup - Vermicelli
• 1/2 cup - Peas and diced Carrots (I used frozen)
• 1/4 cup - sliced Onions
• 2 nos - Green chillies, slit through
• 1 nos - broken Red chilli (optional)
• 1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp - Cumin seeds/jeera
• 10-12 - Peanuts (can be substituted with cashews)
• 1 tsp - Chana dal
• 4-5 Curry leaves
• 2 tsp - Oil
• Salt to taste
• 2 tsp - lime juice or lime wedges for garnish and coriander leaves (optional)
• 1 3/4 cups - water

Method:

1. I like to roast the vermicelli a little even if its the pre-roasted kind. Heat a pan with 1 tsp of oil, on medium heat. Roast the vermicelli until it turns a light brown color, stirring regularly to avoid burning them. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Add the rest of the oil to the pan, splutter the mustard and cumin seeds, roast the peanuts and then add the chana dal, once they turn a deep orange, the red & green chillies, curry leaves go in.
3. Next add the onions and saute until they soften and turn translucent. The frozen (or fresh) peas and carrots go in next, saute them for a couple of minutes. In the meantime, microwave 1 3/4 cups of water and add it to the veggies along with salt.
4. When the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat a bit, add the vermicelli, stir to avoid lumps. Cover and cook for 5-6mins until they soak up the water and soften.
5. Take off the heat and add the lime juice or serve the wedges on the side. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with a sprinkling of sugar and some pickle.

I made this for a late brunch one weekend and had it with fresh cut-mango pickle my mom had made when she was here. Sometimes I skip the pickles and sprinkle some karapodi/idlipodi on top and some yogurt too on the side. When I was in school, my mother would make a tiny potlam/pouch of sugar for me to add right before I had it for lunch, cos the
bambino
vermicelli upma would still be warm when she packs it in the morning and the sugar would dissolve if added right then, pampered... yes! :D You can substitute the peas with edamame or lima beans, other veggie options could be corn, diced green beans, capsicum, tomatoes, boiled and cubed potatoes Or just skip them all together :D Whats your twist to this recipe ?

Happy Friday!
(and hattrick for me, yayyy!)

Ravioli 101

Dear foodies,

Has it happened to you? A recipe or dish just gets stuck on your mind and the only way you can get it out of your system is to cook it once...and until then it haunts you every time you are in the kithcen or watching TV or out shopping. Yes ?? Thank God! then I am not alone :D It was ravioli for me. My favorite Italian restaurant serves a mean mushroom ravioli, and everyone who has eaten it swears by it. I haven't tried it because a certain kind of mushroom (don't know which) triggers a very bad stomach ache for me and so I avoid anything that has mushrooms when eating out. I guess that was when the ravioli madness started...

I went by the frozen pasta aisle in my grocery store a couple of times, but stopped myself from buying any of the vegetarian ravioli's they had because they were overstuffed with cheese. With me trying to control my diet, that was a very bad option. So I decided I would make them....yess, that crazy! I watched two different shows on TV in a week, which made fresh pasta, I also picked up this wonderful Italian cookbook from the library which started out explaining how good pasta can be made at home. Now that was the last straw...

So off I went shopping for my pasta, I picked up a pack of frozen spinach because RR is always telling how much cheaper it is than fresh spinach, then I picked up some 'light' ricotta cheese and a pound of guilt. Yes, its still cheese, right ? As I was going through the dairy section I saw some lite silken tofu and that flashed a bulb. Why not substitute the cheese like a vegan version of ravioli? I love tofu and since I was pairing it with spinach and pasta and other garnishes, it surely wouldn't taste that bad. So last weekend I set out making my own pasta at home...from scratch...Yay! It was easier than I thought, but was also time consuming. May be because it was my first time and I had not figured out the exact method etc., etc., so I spent roughly about 30-40 mins making 10 ravioli's :)) Well, don't forget to account for the photography breaks though. Every time I wanted to click a pic, I had to wash, wipe and dry my hands; get the camera, click and immediately tuck it safely away from the kitchen and all that flour. So not really bad from plain flour to plated ravioli right?

Here goes the recipe, I made an egg-less version ofcourse.

Ingredients:

pasta dough:

• 1 cup + 1/4 cup- All purpose flour (whole wheat flour can also be used)
• 1/4 cup + - Water
• Salt to taste

filling:

• 1/2 cup - Silken (lite) tofu, crumbled
  
• 1/2 cup - Spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
• 1 tsp - Red chilli flakes
• 1/2 tsp - Nutmeg powder
• Salt to taste
• 1-2 Tbsp - Soy milk/spinach water

Method:

1. In a food processor, combine the tofu and spinach. Start out with dry squeezed spinach so that the stuffing is not watery. Add required amount of water/soy milk to then blend all the other ingredients together.
   
2. Once blended, add the chilli flakes, nutmeg and salt and adjust the seasonings to taste.

1. On to the dough, on a flat surface place your flour in a heap, add salt and mix. Make a well in the center and pour 1/2-3/4 of the water and slowly start stirring with a fork to incorporate the flour and water. Gradually add the rest of the water, and using your hands make a smooth dough kneading it well to form a round ball, resembling chapati dough. (Now, this method of making the dough was shown on TV and also described in the book. I am not sure why I cannot make it like normal chapati dough itself instead of the making a well, and using a fork n all. May be next time I will do it that way, and update the post with my results. If any of you know the reason, please do leave a comment)
2. Once the dough is ready, divide it into two, and flatten one ball into a very thin layer. Use the extra flour to dust your surface, roller and hands. The dough has to be extremely thin and pliable, using all purpose flour instead of wheat flour I think helps here. Try to spread the dough in a rectangular shape instead of circular to avoid wastage.
   
3. Now cut through the layers to form 1 1/2" to 2" squares. One round of dough gave me about 10 ravioli.
   
4. Place a spoonful of the filling in the center of a square, wet the edges lightly with water and seal with another square. While sealing it try to get the air out of the center and press all four sides. Otherwise the ravioli may open up when boiling.
5. Arrange the finished ravioli on a parchment paper so they don't stick to each other. You can freeze the ravioli or use them fresh.
   
6. To cook them, bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it and then drop the ravioli into it. (If frozen, thaw them out first). They will initially sink to the bottom and slowly rise upwards when done. Drain them on a plate and serve them which ever way you like.

The pasta dough can be turned into any shape you want and used instead of dried pasta. I read in some article that wanton wrappers could be used to make ravioli, may be we could try that too ...

I made a simple topping for my ravioli. Heat a pan with a pat of butter, brown some finely chopped garlic and add some crushed red pepper flakes. Next toss in some grape/cherry tomatoes and saute on medium high heat until the tomatoes start to pop and burst. Add a Tbsp or two of the cooked pasta water, cook for a minute until it thickens a little and pour it over your ravioli and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm!

You can top them with marinara or cream sauce but if you have made the ravioli yourself, I would recommend a very basic topping so you get to taste the pasta by itself and not drown it in other sauces. You will also have extra stuffing from this recipe, hang on for more ways of using them :) If using fresh spinach, chop it finely and saute it in a little butter or oil. you could also add some finely chopped shallots to it if you like.

The stuffing was just right, soft and creamy with a clear spinach flavor. The ravioli were cooked perfectly and luckily for me were not doughy at all. The grape tomatoes were tangy and sweet, being a perfect compliment to the milder stuffing in the ravioli. The red pepper flakes added the right amount of spice that I like. In all it was just a perfect weekend adventure for me. I will surely make more of this soon, but for now, the craziness is gone and I am back to being normal :)

Happy Monday!

Slurpppp...

Dear Foodies,

Mixed vegetable & Orzo Soup

This one is an extension of my previous post of Orzo Salad. I was on a mission to use my orzo and so came up with easy ways of doing it. I have never eaten a recipe that uses orzo and was in no mood of searching for few. I was just enjoying the experimentation session !! Even on the night I made this soup I wanted to have something light for dinner that would use up some orzo. It was really cold outside and a warm soup was the only thing on my mind.

I got my pack of Maggi tomato soup and suddenly had this idea of making soup from scratch. I had fresh vegetables that in themselves have a lot of flavor and I did not want to put them in a ready made soup powder. And my inspiration came from Saffron's lovely Minestrone soup.

The only other soup I made from scratch was Saffron Hut's Cream of broccoli soup. And that was when my love affair with broccoli started. The soup beautiful brought out all the flavor in the broccoli and placed it at a level you cannot avoid loving.


Ingredients:

• 1 cup : Orzo/any pasta, cooked
  
• 2 cups: finely diced vegetables, I used carrots, green peppers and tomatoes
  
• 2 Tbsp : Red onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup: Garbanzo beans/chick peas, soaked&cooked till soft or canned
• 2 nos : Garlic cloves, finely chopped
  
• 1/2 tsp : Ginger, finely chopped
• 2-3 Tbsp : Coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp : Coriander powder
  
• Salt n Pepper for seasoning
• Coriander leaves for garnish, I also used carrot leaves.
• 1 Tbsp : Olive Oil

Procedure:

1. Cook the pasta al dente as per the instructions on the pack. I added a little salt and a few drops of olive oil to the water.
2. In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and when hot add the finely chopped ginger and garlic.
3. Add the chopped onions in about 30secs. Saute till translucent and add the green pepper. Cover and cook for a few minutes till the peppers turn a little soft.
4. Next add the tomatoes and carrots, cook covered for 2-3 minutes till the tomatoes loose shape and the carrots get soft.
5. Now I added 1/2 tsp of coriander powder for some extra heat. This addition is upto you. You can add any dry herbs instead.
6. I used fresh tender carrots that came with their leaves and so I added them too. The leaves to had a the nice carroty flavor which I really liked.
7. Once the leaves wilt, add 2 cups of water, coconut milk and salt. Allow it to boil for a few minutes.
8. Add the cooked pasta and coriander leaves and simmer for a few minutes. If you want to thicken it, you can mix a tsp of corn flour/corn starch in cold water and add it now.
9. Season with crushed pepper and taste for salt.

This was one of the best soups I've had. The addition of coconut milk gave it a flavor of Thai food which was yumm. I would strongly recommend this addition when you make minestrone soup or any other veggie soup for that matter. The coconut milk gives a nice rich n creamy texture to the soup. The orzo paired really well with the veggies and was a nice mouthful. I have only now begun to realize how well garlic and coconut pair, and this soup was a strong proof to that. I felt that orzo takes a little longer to cook than regular pasta and so cooked them separately.


I had the soup with half a bun toasted on a pan with some olive oil. This combo was purrrrfect for the cold outside. The warmth from the pepper, ginger and coriander powder paired with the soft veggies was ultra satisfying !

I am sending this soup bowl to Alanna, check her page for more soup ideas !! The cold can never get to you now :-)

Pastaaa - Indian Ishtyle !!

Dear Foodies,

Nandita's WBB event - Twist in the plate

The pasta aisle in the grocery store always wins the game. I start out on my monthly shopping with a firm resolution that I wouldn't buy any pasta on this trip, but you will always see a new bag of it in my kitchen closets !! During my last visit, Orzo, the rice grain shaped pasta was the winner :-) My most favorite of them all is the tri-color Rotini, though they might be similar in taste to any other kind of pasta, the colored spirals are a treat to the eyes. Toss in some colored peppers and tomatoes and you have a masterpiece !!

This pasta recipe is the result of some gathered inspiration from a friends' recipe and my cravings for a spicy n quick breakfast on the weekends. Its very simple and a regular in my apartment. Since its a dish with no particular recipe that I stick too, I add anything that comes within my arms reach in the kitchen !!


Ingredients:

• 1/2 pack - Rotini, cooked as per instructions

• 2 nos - Tomatoes, chopped

• 1 nos - Onion, chopped

• 1/2 nos - Capsicum, chopped
  

• 1/2 cup - Lima beans (I used canned ones)
  

• 1 1/2 tsp - red pepper seeds/Chilli powder

• 2 Tbsp - Maggi Hot n Sweet sauce /Tomato ketchup

• 3 tsp - Lime juice

• Salt to taste

• Oil for sautéing (I used olive oil, the newbie in my kitchen :-) )
  

Procedure:

1. Cook the pasta as per the instructions, add a few drops of oil to the boiling water to avoid sticky pasta.
2. In a skillet heat some oil. Once hot, sprinkle some red pepper seeds and then the chopped onions and saute till translucent.
   
3. Next comes the capsicum, once they are tender add the tomatoes and cook covered till the tomatoes cook. If using chilli powder, add it now.
4. Mash the tomatoes a bit and add in the lima beans, salt and ketchup and cook covered for a few more minutes till it all comes together. Add a little water if required.
5. Now toss in the pasta and stir to coat it well with the vegetables. Add more salt if required. cover and cook for a couple of minutes till the flavors blend into with the pasta.
6. Turn off the heat and add the lime juice for a tangy twist and to complete the desi touch.
   

Notes:

• I guess you could add any veggie of your choice to this dish. eg: carrots, peas, potatoes, french cut beans and also tofu or crumbled paneer if you have some.
  
• You can also add some roasted peanuts for an extra crunch :-)
• I add the Maggi hot n sweet ketchup for it to be extra hot, you can skip that if you are not huge spicy food fan. You could use plain ketchup while cooking instead and reserve the Maggi sauce for the bowl just before serving.
• If you don't have the Maggi ketchup you could use a dash of green chilli sauce or tobasco sauce.

Now its over the Nandita's WBB event.