Penne pasta with veggies

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Ever since the first time I tried this pasta sauce, I have been wondering how it would turn out if instead of processing the veggies into a sauce, I sautéed the veggies and tossed them with cooked pasta. Each time I made the sauce I kept thinking I needed to try it with just sautéing the veggies. Since I do not make pasta very often these days, my plans to experiment kept getting deferred.

Finally a few weeks back , pasta was back on the menu and I got to try this version of pasta. This version definitely comes under the category of " winner" in my book, it was quick, easy and flavorful. I've made it a few times since and it turns out consistently good. If pasta is on your menu too, give this quick, easy version a try and as always let me know what you think about it :)

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Ingredients and Method to make penne pasta with veggies (adapted from this recipe)
4 cups multi grain penne pasta ( or any other kind )
1 large garlic clove or 2 small cloves (peeled and cut fine)
1 large red onion sliced lengthwise
2 cups of finely cut tomatoes (3 med large tomatoes)
1 zucchini cut into 1 and 1/2 inch matchsticks
2 green bell peppers cut into 1 inch piece long matchsticks about 1/4 inch wide
2 - 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 and 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried parsley
3/4 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp crushed red pepper ( optional, or to taste) ( can be substituted with black pepper powder to taste)
salt to taste

Prepare pasta as per manufacturers directions, drain and keep aside. Prep all the vegetables and keep aside.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan, add onions and garlic to it and sauté until onions turn translucent. Add tomatoes and stir until tomatoes are soft and mushy. 

Add zucchini and green bell pepper pieces, salt to taste, all the spices and stir until the veggies are soft, cooked yet firm.

Add prepared pasta and toss / mix with the vegetables. Serve immediately.

This quantity serves approx 4 to 5

Notes:

Recipe can be easily halved.


If you are looking for pasta recipes, here are a few more

Mushroom Pasta with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce

Low fat Vegan Pasta Sauce

Thai Inspired Pasta

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Low Fat Vegan Tomato Pasta Sauce ~ With Stepwise Pictures

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On the days that I have pasta on the menu, if I happen to be short on time,  I don't mind using store bought pasta sauces. But store bought pasta sauces are not my first preference. Firstly the taste and freshness of the homemade version easily surpasses the store bought version. Additionally if I happen to have a large jar, I have to worry about storing the balance of the sauce and using it up fairly soon so that it does not spoil.

Increasingly I find myself turning to quick and easy pasta sauces that do not take too much time and effort, yet have the fresh homemade taste. The additional benefit, as with any homemade food, is that I get to see exactly what goes in and enjoy the food without any guilt. This low fat pasta sauce is one of the pasta sauces I make often these days. The first time I made it I was amazed at how quick and tasty it turned out, since then I have made it quite a few times and it always turns out consistently good.

Looking for pasta recipes ? Here are a few other pasta recipes in this space
Pasta with roasted Red bell pepper sauce
Thai Inspired Pasta
Southwestern pasta salad

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Ingredients and Method to make Tomato pasta Sauce (adapted from this recipe)
1 red onion cut fine (pyaaz/ vengayam)
1 green bell pepper/ capsicum deseeded and cut into 1/4 inch pieces (simla mirch/ koda molagai)
2 cups diced tomatoes (I needed 3 med large tomatoes for this ) (tamatar/ thakkali)
1 Tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic peeled and cut fine. (lehsun/ poondu)
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper ( or 1/2 tsp black pepper powder)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Prep all the vegetables. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add onion  and garlic and saute until onions are translucent.

Add tomatoes and green bell pepper. Add salt, dried basil, dried oregano and crushed red pepper and stir until the tomatoes and bell pepper is cooked and soft.

Remove from heat, allow to cool and puree until smooth. Place back in pan, heat and serve over cooked pasta of choice. Store leftover sauce after it cools thoroughly in a glass bottle or air tight container in the refrigerator and use within a couple of days for freshest taste.

I served it over multigrain elbow pasta and this quantity of sauce is enough for about 2 and 1/2 cups of dried pasta cooked as per manufacturers directions.

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Thai Inspired Pasta and an update :)

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First the update :) Regular readers of this site may have noticed that the share on twitter and facebook buttons at the top right of each post have disappeared since the last week. Well they haven't actually disappeared they have just been relocated. You will now find these buttons just below the title of each post. In addition to the usual share on facebook and twitter buttons I have also added a couple of new ones. One is the like on facebook that wasn't available before. The second is the pin it button for those of you who are on pinterest and wish to add any recipe to your pinterest board. The pin it button is not visible on the home page, but if you select the post or specific recipe that you want to pin, you will find the button to the right of the facebook share and like button.

Moving on to the pasta. This Thai inspired pasta is inspired by another pasta with the same name on this very site :) This version uses peanut butter, but does not use any coconut milk or thai curry paste. Instead it is a simple combination of ginger, peanut butter and soy sauce among other things to give this pasta a more Thai inspired flavor. This one's is becoming quite a favorite with us and I have been making this fairly frequently the last few months.  I mean what's not to like, it is easy to make, tastes delicious and is very quick to put together too :)  Perfect for those rushed weekdays or weekends when you do not want to spend too much time in the kitchen and yet want something light and nutritious :)



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Ingredients and Method to make Thai Inspired Pasta

For the peanut butter pasta sauce
3 tbsp honey (use agave nectar for a vegan version)
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp vinegar
6 tbsp smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup packed finely cut cilantro (coriander leaves)

For the pasta
14 oz multi grain angel hair pasta prepared as per manufacturer's directions
4 spring onions (green onions) cut fine both white and green parts (can be substituted with 1 finely cut onion in a pinch )
1 green bell pepper (capsicum) deseeded and cut fine
1 large or 2 medium sized carrots grated
salt to taste
crushed red pepper to taste
1 tbsp oil
1 inch ginger minced fine
peanut butter sauce (recipe follows)

For the sauce
In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients mentioned under sauce except cilantro and blend together or whisk together until it blends well. Add finely cut cilantro to the sauce and mix well. Keep sauce aside.

For the pasta.
Prepare pasta as per manufacturer's instruction, drain and keep aside. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil, add spring onions to it and saute until cooked to a tender crisp. Add ginger and stir a few times.
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Add bell pepper, carrots, salt to taste and stir until cooked to a tender crisp. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, assemble cooked and drained pasta, peanut butter sauce and sauteed vegetables. Toss together to mix well. Sprinkle crushed red pepper to taste (if using) and serve immediately.

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Thai Inspired Pasta

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One evening a couple of weeks ago, I had pasta planned for dinner. I was planning to make it with traditional pasta sauce, but while I was waiting for the pasta to get cooked, I suddenly realized I was more in the mood for something with Thai flavors than Italian. A quick search through my refrigerator and pantry revealed that I had some ingredients that could work together to infuse Thai flavors to the pasta dish.

So I decided to give it a try. Luckily for both of us, this idea worked out very well. The red curry paste, coconut milk and peanut butter gave the pasta dish that typical Thai kind of flavor that I was craving that day. In addition it was really quick to make and super easy too. So if you are in the mood to try something "different" with your pasta and you like Thai flavors, maybe you could give this pasta dish a try:-)   



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Ingredients and Method to make Thai Inspired Pasta
1 14.5 oz packet of multi grain angel hair pasta (see notes)

2 tbsp oil ( I used coconut oil) + 1 tsp any oil
1 large red onion cut lengthwise

1 large red bell pepper deseeded and cut lengthwise into thin strips
1 large green bell pepper deseeded and cut lengthwise into thin strips
1 inch piece of ginger minced
1/2 tsp minced garlic
salt to taste
1/2 tsp chili powder (optional) (or according to taste)

For the sauce
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp red thai curry paste (see notes)
3/4 cup coconut milk

Prepare pasta/ noodles as per manufacturers directions. Drain and add 1 teaspoon of oil to the noodles and mix well. This ensures that the noodles do not stick to each other.

Whisk together peanut butter, Thai curry paste and  coconut milk until smooth and keep aside.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan, add onions and saute until it turns transparent. Add minced ginger and garlic and stir a few times.

Add bell pepper strips, stir frequently until it cooks and is soft yet a little crisp.

Add red chili powder if using, salt to taste and mix well. Add the cooked pasta and mix well. Add the sauce, mix well. Adjust spices if required.
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Remove and serve hot with any Thai style curry or even on its own.

Notes:
In place of angel hair pasta Thai style noodles can be used as well. Also you can use any type of angel hair pasta, I used barilla plus multi grain pasta because I really like it very much :-)

Some types of Thai sauces available in the markets have some type of fish sauces in them. So if you are a vegetarian or vegan you might want to read through the labels to make sure that the one you buy does not contain fish sauce. I use Thai kitchen brand since it is vegan.

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Schezuan Vegetable Noodles

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Schezuan vegetable noodles come under the category of Indo-Chinese cuisine. Among the different spellings used to refer to this dish, I have most commonly seen it spelled as schezuan, schezwan or even schezwuan. Whichever spelling you prefer, the common star ingredient in all of these types of noodles is the schezuan sauce. Just as there are various spellings for this dish, there also seem to be various types of schezuan sauce. Mine is a variation of this sauce that I made earlier for schezuan fried rice.

Unlike the versions served at restaurants and street corners every where in India, my version does not use copious amounts of oil. I also used multi grain angel hair pasta in place of the hakka noodles that is traditionally used in this dish. What can I say......I cannot help trying to fiddle with each recipe to make it a little more healthier. Did I miss the oil and the hakka noodles......nah, not even one bit :-)  This was a fun and delicious variation that really worked for us, give it a try and see if it works for you too :-)




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Ingredients and Method to make Schezuan vegetable noodles

200 gms of chinese style noodles prepared as per package directions. (see notes)
2 green bell peppers (capsicum)  de-seeded and cut lengthwise into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 medium onions sliced thin lengthwise
1 1/2 to 3 cups of thinly sliced mushrooms optional (can be substituted with thinly shredded cabbage)
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp schezuan sauce (recipe follows) (or to taste)
salt to taste
2 tbsp sesame oil + 1 tsp any type of oil

For the schezuan sauce
10 dry red chilies
2 inch piece of ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp smooth and creamy peanut butter (optional)
1 tbsp sesame oil

Optional garnish:
Spring onion greens cut fine.

Prepare pasta/ noodles as per package directions. Drain, add 1 tsp of oil to the drained noodles and mix well. This prevents the noodles from sticking to each other. Keep this aside.

Make the sauce and keep aside. Prep the vegetables.
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Heat sesame oil in a large heavy bottomed pan or wok. Add onions to it and saute until the onions are transparent.Add the rest of the vegetables and saute on high heat until they are tender crisp.Add the prepared noodles, soy sauce, schezuan sauce and mix well.

Add salt to taste. Do remember that soy sauce and the schezuan sauce have some salt in it, so add little salt in the beginning and adjust as per taste.

If you are planning to garnish, add finely cut green part of spring onion at the end and serve hot.

For the sauce
Soak dry red chilies in warm water for 15 minutes, drain completely and grind along with all other ingredients except oil. Heat sesame oil to smoking hot, then pour over the sauce and mix well. Use this sauce as required in this recipe and the balance can be refrigerated for future use.

Notes:
Traditionally this is made with chinese style hakka noodles, but I used barilla plus angel hair multi grain pasta and found it really worked well in this recipe.It has a slightly different texture and taste as compared to hakka noodles but definitely not something that I missed in any way.

Some other Indo-chinese dishes that would complement this one to make a complete meal
Baked Vegetable Manchurian
Vegetable Fried Rice

This dish is off to the Fast food event-Noodles being hosted by Shama.

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Pasta with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce and some humor.

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Recently, I received an email with pictures of a lot of billboards and road signs. Not ordinary road signs, but ones that are unintentionally funny, some of them, downright hilarious. I posted a couple of them here. Notice the second one......that particular sign had me in splits. I think I am never going to look at lime juice in the same way ever again :-)



Moving on,  I rarely make pasta sauce from scratch, but when I came across this idea I  was instantly intrigued. I tweaked the recipe a fair bit, customizing it to our taste. The end result was a sauce that tasted pretty awesome.I used to think that making pasta sauce would be a very time consuming job, but it really turned out to be quite simple and quick.



Baking the peppers does not require much supervision, and after removing it from the oven, the only other step is to puree all the ingredients.This sauce tastes delicious over just plain pasta too, but if you want to add more veggies to the pasta you can try this with mushrooms or green bell pepper or any other vegetable of choice. It tastes pretty good in all combinations :)



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Ingredients and Method to make Mushroom pasta with red bell pepper sauce

For the pasta
1 large onion sliced lengthwise
8 oz (approx 266 gms) of button mushrooms sliced thin (can be substituted with 1 large or 2 med green bell peppers (capsicum/kodamolagai) deseeded and cut into thin long strips.
3 cups of dry whole grain or multi grain pasta (of any variety. I have used penne/ elbow pasta for this recipe most often ) ( I use barilla) cooked as per manufacturers instructions.
red bell pepper sauce as required (recipe below)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic (or to taste)
1 tsp crushed red pepper (or to taste)
salt to taste

For the sauce (see notes)
2 Large Red Bell peppers cut into thin strips
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 dry red pepper/ dry red chili
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt

Pre heat oven to 450 deg F

Place red bell pepper strips on a foil lined cookie sheet or flat tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until small brownish/blackish spots begin to appear on the bell peppers. Turn once in between. It may take a little more or less time depending on the thickness of the bell peppers.

Once it is done, remove bell peppers from the oven and cool to room temperature. Puree the bell peppers along with dry red pepper, parsley, salt to taste and the yogurt to a smooth paste. Add a few tsps of water if required and blend again. Keep this sauce aside. (I did not need any water for this sauce)

Prepare pasta as per manufacturers directions. Drain and place the pasta in a large bowl and keep aside 

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add garlic and stir until the garlic has browned a little. Add onions and saute till transparent. Add mushrooms (or bell pepper if using that) and stir until  cooked and soft yet firm.
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Add crushed red pepper, salt to taste and the pureed sauce and mix well. Allow the sauce to heat for a few minutes. Add this sauce on top of the pasta, mix well and serve immediately or place pasta on individual plates, and pour sauce as required over it and serve.

serves approximately 2 to 3

Notes:
If you like the flavor of roasted garlic and want a stronger garlic taste, you can place a clove or two of garlic along with the red bell pepper in the oven to roast a little and then puree along with the red bell pepper.

If you do not want any additional vegetables, this sauce can be served over plain pasta too. I've had it with sauce and a sprinkling of parsley and crushed red pepper, tastes good that way too :) 

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Southwestern Style Pasta Salad

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Cilantro(coriander leaves) has always been one of my favorite herbs. The fragrance and flavor it adds to food is just incomparable, and I use this herb extensively in my daily cooking to add flavor.In a general sense I always believed that cilantro like all other green leafy herbs and vegetables must have some good in them, but I never really looked it up to confirm what those health benefits could be......

So I was pleasantly surprised when I came across an article in a recent Health magazine issue that explained exactly how healthy cilantro really is.......Did you know.... that cilantro is said to aid digestion and prevent nausea. It also is said to contain essential oils in it that kill bacteria like e-coli making food safer. After reading that article I went online to check and found that in addition to these, cilantro has been credited with a host of other health benefits, everything from having anti inflammatory properties, to help in reducing LDL cholesterol (the bad kind),to being a good anti oxidant and is also said to help stimulate the endocrine glands. Who would have thought that cilantro could be this beneficial and have such an important role to play in our diet.......

I definitely did not....and now that I do, I reach for the cilantro in my herb tray with an added sense of enthusiasm and use it wherever I can. Like in this southwestern style pasta salad that I first tasted at a restaurant. I loved it and thought it would be great to try making this at home. In addition to being very colorful and flavorful, this salad is also very hearty and filling.



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Ingredients and Method to make Southwestern style Pasta Salad

1/2 cup dry red kidney beans soaked for 6 to 8 hours with a pinch of soda (soda is optional)
1/2 cup dry black beans soaked for 6 to 8 hours with a pinch of soda (soda is optional)

3 1/2 cup dry any type of pasta like rotini or penne ( I used Barilla plus multi grain rotini)

1 large onion cut lengthwise
1 cup sweet corn kernels
1 green bell pepper cut fine
3 stalks celery cut fine (optional)
2 tbsp oil

For the dressing
1/3 cup olive oil (see notes)
1/4 cup lime juice/lemon juice (or to taste) (see notes)
salt to taste
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp chili powder (or to taste)

generous handful cilantro cut very fine for garnish

Drain the water the beans were soaked in, fill with fresh water and cook the beans seperately until soft either using the stove top or pressure cooker. Keep the cooked beans aside.

Cook dry pasta as per the instructions given in the packet, remove from heat, drain and keep aside.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan, add onions and saute until transparent.

Then add celery and sweet corn and saute until the sweet corn is softer and cooked. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, add oil, spices, salt and lime juice and mix well.

Add cooked pasta to the onions,celery and corn and mix well. Add finely cut bell pepper to it and mix well. Now drizzle the oil + lime+ spices mixture on it and mix well.

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Garnish with cilantro.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Serves approximately 4

Notes
Preferably when cooking the beans, add just enough water to cook it. I fill my container containing beans with water upto 1/4 of an inch above the beans and pressure cook it, that works out fine for me. In case you use the stove top keep adding water as required while cooking the beans. In case there are a few teaspoons of water remaining you can use it as is in the salad. In case there is a lot more water than that, then drain the water before adding beans to the salad.

If you use store bought lime or lemon juice you may need a little more, if you use fresh lemon/lime then a couple of tbsp may be sufficient.

Update: When I made this subsequently I started using only about 2 to 3 tbsp olive oil instead of 1/3 cup for the dressing and still think the salad tastes very good.

Suggested variance:
Reduce chili powder and instead saute 1 jalapeno cut fine along with the onions and add to the salad

This salad is off to the Healthy Inspirations Salad Event going on at this site and to Sowmya's Cooking with Pasta Event 

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Pasta with carrots and asparagus

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Usually my day starts out with creating a to-do list for the day. I make such a detailed list, that most of my family members tease me about needing to write down everything. I am a compulsive list maker and start my day with a to-do list and then keep adding stuff in it as the day goes by and striking out the ones that I have already completed. Mostly at the time that I do this sometimes semi- boring task of creating a to-do list, I also simultaneously log into my email to check on mails.

On some days just seeing the long list of tasks at hand for the day seem to weigh me down :-) So a little humor at the time is much appreciated and I seem to have a family of cousins and other relatives that are always willing to oblige. The results are that on most days when I check my email I find some humorous piece forwarded to me that brings a smile on my face. I recently shared one and here is another one that I came across.... you all must have read Murphy's law.... this one is somewhat on similar lines,  it says......

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Law of Queues: If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now .

Law of Mechanical Repair : After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will start to itch.

Law of the Alibi: If you tell the boss that you are late because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire

Law of the Result : When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will

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Does this not seem the way it happens to us sometimes, at least I can attest to the ones on queues/ lines and greasy hands, only mine are when I am cooking :-)

Speaking of cooking, here is a simple pasta salad that I made inspired from a Vegetarian Times cookbook that I borrowed from the library. The, recipe of this salad, suggested it as a cold salad and and the ingredients mentioned in the original recipe were vastly different from the ones I finally used. I served this salad hot because it was a really cold evening and cold salad was not quite what I was in the mood for, but it worked very well as a hot salad. I absolutely loved this simple,quick and elegant pasta salad and it turned out to be a great way to use up the fresh asparagus I found in my local groceries :-)





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Ingredients and Method to make pasta with carrots and asparagus
3 cups dry shell pasta
2 large carrots julienned
10 stalks asparagus (heads cut off, balance cut into 2 inch pieces and then quartered lengthwise)

1 tbsp oil
1/4 finely cut fresh parsley
salt to taste (approx 3/4 tsp)

Whisk together
1 tbsp jalapeno mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp crushed red pepper (or to taste)

Cook the shell pasta as per manufacturers instructions and keep aside to drain.
Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan and add the carrots and asparagus and saute for a few minutes until it is cooked, yet crisp not too soft. Remove from heat.

Add the cooked and drained pasta, salt to taste and and the whisked jalapeno mustard+ olive oil+ crushed red pepper and give it a good toss until the pasta and vegetables are coated with this mixture.

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Add some more crushed red pepper if required. Add parsley and mix it in too.


Serve hot, at room temperature or cold.

Serves approximately 2 to 3

This salad is off to the Healthy Inspirations Event- Salad being hosted on this site and to the Cooking with Pasta event being hosted by Sowmya

Update (03/25/10): Srimathi has started a new event called My food finds Event. She tells me that this pasta fits her theme too because of the jalapeno mustard, so as requested Srimathi, here is a picture of the jalapeno mustard, which I bought at the local grocery and used in this pasta, which is now off to the MFF Event too

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American Chopsuey made healthier

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American Chopsuey is another of those fusion Indo Chinese dishes that I mentioned in this post and this post . This dish usually is made with crunchy stir fried vegetables, topped with fried noodles and then topped with the chopsuey sauce. This used to be one of my favorite items to order when I visited any Indo- Chinese restaurant in India. There was something about this sweetish slightly spicy sauce that really appealed to me and there is no denying the crunchy fried noodles had something to do with my interest in this dish too :-)  

I have avoided trying this dish at home because of the frying involved in this dish. When I came across this alternative  on Nidhi's site using baked noodles, I could not resist trying it out immediately. Baking the noodles made it as crunchy as the fried ones and I adapted the recipe for the sauce a little bit and felt it tasted just perfect. With the quantity of veggies I used this turned out to be an ideal one dish meal and since it is fairly quick and simple to make, this is great for those evenings when time is short.The sauce can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for at least a few days too.

A peek at all the components of this dish...........

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Ingredients and Method to make American Chopsuey

For the sauce

1/2 cup plain tomato ketchup

1 tsp oil

3/4 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp corn starch mixed with 1/2 cup water (see notes)

Additional 1/2 cup water

salt to taste ( I used about 1 1/4 tsp salt)

soy sauce 1 tsp

Veggies for chopsuey

1 large yellow onion cut into long slices

2 large green bell peppers (cut into long slices)

3 1/2 cups of shredded cabbage

2 tbsp oil

pinch of salt

Noodles

250 gms egg noodles (or hakka noodles)(or even Maggie / Top ramen noodles)

few drops of oil to brush on the noodles

Method 

To make sauce

Mix corn starch in 1/2 cup water and keep aside

Mix tomato ketchup, red chilli powder, 1/2 cup water, sugar, salt and soy sauce in a large bowl and keep aside

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the minced garlic to it and saute until the garlic starts turning slightly brown.

Lower heat and slowly add the tomato ketchup + all other spices kept aside.

Add the corn starch +water to this mixture and let it simmer for a few minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.

Remove from heat and keep aside.

For the noodles

Pre heat oven to 400 deg F

Line a baking tray or sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Place the noodles on the tray/ sheet and brush with a few drops of oil on top of the noodles

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the top of the noodles begins to turn brown.

For the veggies

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan

Add the onions to the oil and saute until the onions are transparent.

Add the rest of the vegetables and saute until the veggies are cooked but crisp on a medium high heat.

For the chopsuey.

Assemble all three components of the dish in a large bowl and serve immediately.

If you like your noodles a little softer let the noodles soak the sauce for a few minutes and then serve.

Notes

I used egg noodles and since they were light, it got baked very quickly, in case you use top ramen or maggie noodles the baking time may vary.

If you are not particular about crunchy noodles you can quite easily substitute with cooked noodles and proceed with the rest of the recipe 

Corn starch is known as corn flour in India

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Lemon Pasta Salad

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After all the cold and freezing temperatures we have had recently, this week we saw a surprising warm up. The weather was almost spring like, so what did I do to celebrate? Other than using the opportunity to go for long walks that I missed a lot these past few weeks, I also made a light summery lemon pasta salad. The idea was to recreate a dish I remember having in a  restaurant once, and I put together ingredients that I thought would have been used in the original recipe. The bad news was that this was not exactly what I was looking for,  and the good news....this tasted pretty good too and I am looking forward to making this many more times in the spring and summer. I thought the earthy taste of celery and the light citrusy taste of the lemon provided an interesting contrast in flavors and the spice from the crushed chilli flakes added the right hint of spice without making it spicy. 

Before moving on to the recipe I just wanted to share a tip I picked up from my mother in law. Just before extracting juice from a lemon, place the lemon (uncut) on a flat counter or a flat surface and with the palm of your hand exert gentle pressure and roll the lemon a few times. Then cut the lemon and proceed to extract the juice as usual. This makes it easier to juice the lemon and yields more juice from the lemon. Try this tip the next time you use a lemon, it really does make a difference :-)

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Ingredients and Method to make Lemon Pasta Salad

250 gms (8.8 oz ) of whole wheat spaghetti  (half of a regular pack of spaghetti) (can be substituted with equal quantity of angel hair pasta too)

1 large carrot grated

2 stalks of celery cut very fine

2 tbsp olive oil

Juice of 1 small lemon (or to taste) (see notes)

handful Italian parsley (cut fine)

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Crushed red chilli flakes (according to taste)

salt according to taste

Cook spaghetti as per manufacturers instructions and drain and keep aside.

In a large bowl add grated carrot and cut celery and mix together.

Add cooked spaghetti to this and mix well.

In a separate bowl add olive oil and juice of one lemon,salt according to taste and Italian seasoning and give it a good mix.
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Pour this mixture on the pasta  + vegetables and mix well.

Add crushed red chilli flakes as per taste and mix again.

Garnish with Italian parsley and serve cold.

Serves approximately 3

Notes

In case you do not plan to use red chilli flakes, you may need to reduce the amount of lemon juice slightly maybe use half the quantity

You can also use other types of multi grain spaghetti or even plain regular spaghetti for this dish.

I am sending this pasta off to Its a Vegan World - Italian being hosted by Vaishali

Since this pasta got created entirely in my kitchen this one also is off to the Original Recipe Event being hosted by Lore

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Vegetable Chowmein

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Some years back,in large metros around India, restaurants introduced what was called "Chinese" dishes in their menu.Apparently a lot of people were curious to taste this new type of food and this cuisine caught on in a big way.I was probably one of the few holdouts who had not tasted this cuisine for quite some time even though it seemed to be gaining a fair amount of popularity.What can I say,apparently my spirit of adventure with regard to food had not completely developed at that point.

Anyway this "Chinese" cuisine was so popular that every restaurant added this type of food to their menu cards,new stalls mushroomed all across the cities doing brisk business churning out stuff with names like Cauliflower Manchurian,Vegetable Manchurian,American chopsuey to name a few and the people around were literally eating it up.This Chinese food is vastly different from the Chinese food you find here,since it has been Indianized,hence the term "Indo-Chinese" which is used to refer to this cuisine nowadays.

Eventually of course I not only tried and liked this type of cuisine and still like it as a matter of fact, I also make some of these dishes at home regularly.This variation of chowmein I make using wheat spaghetti or wheat angel hair pasta. I guess the use of Italian spaghetti in an Indo chinese dish definitely qualifies this dish to be categorized as fusion cooking in its truest sense :)

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make the Vegetable Chowmein

8 oz of wheat spaghetti / wheat angel hair pasta
4 medium carrots (cut into 3 pieces horizontally and then sliced lengthwise)
4 cups of cabbage (cut long, loosely packed cups)
1 onion sliced lengthwise
3 tbsp sesame oil (or corn oil)
1 tsp minced ginger
3 tbsp chili garlic sauce (or according to taste) (I used Maggie sauce)
2 tbsp Soy sauce
4 tbsp Regular Tomato Ketchup
Salt to taste

Cook the spaghetti in a large pot with boiling salted water.Drain,rinse with cold water and drain again and keep aside.

Heat the sesame oil and add the onions to this and saute for a minute or two on high heat.Add the minced ginger and saute for a few seconds.

Add the carrots and saute for a few minutes on medium to high heat.Do not let the carrots become too soft.

Add the cabbage and saute for a few minutes on medium to high heat.When all the veggies are softer but still crisp ( a little tender crisp) add the chili garlic sauce,the soy sauce and the ketchup.Mix well.

Add the cooked spaghetti,salt to taste and mix well.Saute this for another minute or so.

Serve hot.Serves about 3-4

Notes: This can be made using Chinese Egg noodles or any other type of Chinese noodles.In case you use a different type of noodle,first prepare the noodles as per instructions on the packet and drain and keep aside and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Another point to note is that when using different type of noodles you may need to decrease the amount of chili garlic sauce.

You can use vegetables such as snow peas,bell peppers in place of or in addition to the vegetables given in this recipe.

The picture I have used here is when I made this chowmein with angel hair pasta and other vegetables such as green bell pepper, mushrooms, onions and carrots.

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