Indian Pasta Penne Style

Pasta! When I heard the word for the first time when I was small it sounded interesting but I never really got the opportunity to taste the dish at that point of time. I was busy with my studies and my Mom was not well verse or acquainted with cooking Italian cuisine. The primary reason was that there was no Italian restaurant in the locality where I was born and brought up (in a small quaint town called Ponda in Goa). If this was not the case then I would have surely eaten it much earlier as we as a family liked trying out different kinds of cuisines at various joints.

My hubby was not too fond of pasta and always tried to escape it some way or another.  The simplest escape trick being he used to say “I will just taste it”. In other words he will just have a spoon and I have to finish the entire dish on my own (short and simple). We also never ordered the dish in the restaurant as when we read the ingredients plus sauces in the preparations of various kinds of Pasta it did not sound very appealing.

Once it so happened that we landed up at Vijay’s aunt’s (Kala Mave’s) place to give her a surprise and she happened to prepare pasta on that occasion. We both liked it so much that we became a regular fan of it. I am putting down the recipe borrowed from her. The credit goes to her. This pasta has an Indo-Italian taste, style and flavor to it and will suit our palate.

Ingredients

4 -5 tbsp oil

5 onions finely chopped

3 tomatoes finely chopped

8 garlic pieces

1 tsp of ginger paste

1 ½ tsp red chili powder

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tsp Garam masala powder

250g boiled pasta

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil and onions, garlic and ginger. Fry till onions become translucent.
2. Add red chili powder, fry for a minute and then add tomatoes and fry for 2 to 3 min till little oil leaves and then add Garam Masala and mix well.
3. Add paste, salt and tomato ketchup and mix well.
4. Garnish with coriander.

Spicy baby potatoes

Whenever I go to the market for vegetable shopping, I am tempted to buy Baby Potatoes. Especially in Mumbai market we get good baby Potatoes. What I mean to say is that we really get very small potatoes which are unheard of in Ponda and Pune. Both of us like it very much so I always end up in buying it. But end up preparing the same age old recipe thought by my mom i.e. with red chili powder (Dum Aloo). I always wanted to prepare baby potatoes with a little bit of gravy. So I started searching on the net for some recipes. After going through many recipes and customizing as per our taste buds I ended up with the following recipe (custom made ………..and we both loved it)

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil

½ kg baby potatoes

Cumin seeds 1 ts

½ tsp Asafetida

2 green chilies finely chopped

1 tsp ginger

1 tbsp Coriander powder

½ tsp haldi powder 

1 tsp of red chili powder

½ cup of tomato puree

½ tsp pepper powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp of kasturi methi

½ tsp of lemon juice

Method

1. Wash, boil and peel potatoes.
2. Heat oil, add cumin seeds  when it starts cracking add asafetida, green chills and ginger fry for few sec and then add potatoes fry for 2 min.
3. Add salt, coriander powder, haldi powder, red chili powder and tomato puree. Mix well and fry for a while.
4. Add remaining masala and then mix well.

Cooked Rice Dosa

If you are expecting some guests at your place and they do not turn-up at the last minute for whatever reasons and you have cooked a lot of rice which is left over then this Dosa is a very good option for that rice (vilavar korcha sitache). It is a very simple dish to make and is also very tasty and delicious at the same time. This is another option other than Sita Phanna which is normally prepared out of leftover rice. This recipe will add another dimension to your culinary skills and will keep you in good stead.

Ingredients

1 cup cooked rice

1 cup raw rice

Method:

1.       Soak raw rice for about 2 to 3 hr

2.       Grind soaked rice along with cooked rice to a smooth past does not add too much of water

3.       You need to get the consistency of Dosa batter (not too thin like neer Dosa nor to thick)

4.       Then keep for overnight fermentation.

5.       Next day add salt and ½ tsp of soda powder about ½ hr before removing Dosa

6.       Heat the tava, add little oil and spred it over

7.       Put about a ladleful of batter onto it and spread with the back of ladle (not very thin)