Pasta is one of the Italian dish, which is, famous almost through out the world. From the time Iam married, I never tried this till recent time. I heard about it a lot. Then, I learned with two to three trials on cooking pasta, that it can be cooked with any seasoning of our likes. Now you know me..:-)) I added my very own basic spices used for making a any simple upma to the pasta. And end result for very very yummy. Iam happy with this because my son too started liking pasta. Now its been adopted by both of us (mother and son) very much, it has become one of our favourite meal. For first couple of times, though I have choosen Italian made as I heard it is the best one, I went for just plain pasta. But this time I went for Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli (made in Italy). I choose fusilli upon other textures. I believe , I liked whole wheat pasta more than others. Now I stick to this! Its worth the cost! Iam sending this entry to Express Cooking Event, hosting by mallugirl of Malabar Spices. I sincerely thanks her for reminding me of this event. Iam very much happy to participate in this event :-)

• 1 cup pf whole wheat pasta
• 1 quater / 1 liter / 32oz of water
• Salt a/c to taste
• 1/4th tsp mustard seeds (aavalu)
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jilakara)
• 2 garlic pods (cut and crushed)
• 1 small onion (Cut onion into small pieces, just as you do for upma)
• 2 green chillies (slit and cut into small pieces)
• 1 stem curry leaves (karivepaku)
• 1 big tomato ( sized into small cubes)
• A dash of pepper

Method For Cooking Pasta:

1. Bring above specified amount of water into full boiling with little salt.
2. Once the water starts full boiling, add pasta and cook with open lid, stirring occasionally.
3. Cook till about 10 minutes approx. But do check the pasta in between , to know wheather it is cooked well.
4. Just take one piece of pasta, press and see wheather you like that chewing consistency. If it is ok , remove from heat or else cook till it reaches texture as you desire.
5. I like little crunchy texture, so I stopped after 10 minutes of boiling.
6. Drain water and allow the pasta to cool a little, till you prepare the seasoning.
7. If it sticks to each other, then just rinse once in cold water and keep aside to drain.

Method For Seasoning The pasta:

1. Heat a wok, add 2 full tsp of oil (I used olive oil, which is best for such meals).
2. Now add mustard seeds and cumin seeds, green chillies and curry leaves one after the other as mentioned, giving time for each to splutter.
3. Now add onions and fry till they turn transparent. Add garlic and fry for 1 more minute.
4. Now add tomato and sprinkle with pepper powder and very small amount of salt(as already salt is addded to the pasta while cooking). Pour little water (say 1/4 th cup) and close lid.
5. Allow to cook, mix in between, till tomatoes are soft. Just check the taste for salt and spice. if you think you need little more add here, respectively.
6. Now add drained pasta and mix well with other ingredients. Close lid and decrease the heat. Allow to cook for couple of minutes more or till all other spices get well with pasta.
7. Before removing from heat, just check the taste and if needed add like salt or pepper.
8. Serve hot or warm. This is best one for kids also who like pasta but desire for spices:-)

Labels: fussilli, pasta, whole wheat, whole wheat pasta

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti on Monday, August 06, 2007 at 10:55 AM | Permalink