Spiral Veg-Chicken Pasta

September 25th, 2007 Mona Posted in Blog Events/Entries/Polls, Cabbage/Patta Gobi, Canned Tomato paste, Canola Oil, Capsicum, Carrot/Gajar, Chicken Stock, Cilantro/Kothmir (fresh), Coriander seeds, Eid/Ramadhan/Iftaar, Ginger-Garlic paste, Pasta & Noodles, Pastes & Sauces, Poultry/Murgh, Quick fix meals, Yellow Onion/Pyaaz 12 Comments »

Pasta and left overs go well with each other. Especially when we homecooks, dont feel like being in the kitchen for longer times. I had many left over cut vegetables and some chicken in the refrigerator, so I thought of preparing a simple one dish meal adding pasta to it.

Spiral Veg-Chicken Pasta

You can enjoy this it at lunch, dinner or even at breakfast. You can even pack it in a lunch box and have this healthy and filling meal for lunch. Here goes the recipe:

Spiral Veg-Chicken Pasta

Serves : 3

Ingredients:

  • Canola Oil – 2 tbsp
  • Chicken breast pieces – 250 gms, cut into 1 or 1 1/2 cm cubes
  • Yellow Onion – 1 cup, finely chopped
  • Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tsp
  • Baby Carrots – 3/4 cup, sliced thinly
  • Green capsicum – 3/4 cup, chopped
  • Red capsicum – 3/4 cup
  • Cabbage – 3/4 cup
  • Tomato Paste – 1 tbsp
  • Water – 2 cups
  • Maggi Chicken Bouillon-Halal -2 cubes
  • Dry roasted Coriander seed powder – 1 1/2 tsp
  • Cilantro – for garnish
  • Spiral pasta – 250 gms

Method:

To Prepare the Pasta Sauce-

  • In a pan on medium heat, pour oil and put the cut chicken pieces. Stir fry it for 5 minutes.
  • Now add the chopped onion. Fry it till it is translucent in colour. Then add ginger garlic paste and stir it well for 2 minutes or so.
  • Add all the cup vegetables and sprinkle a little bit of salt over it, maybe a big pinch, just to enhance the colour of the veggies. Stir fry the contents in the pan for about 5-7 minutes. Then add the tomato paste, water and the cubed chicken stock. Break the cube once it softens up and mix well.
  • Cover the pan so the the chicken and vegetables soften up and absorb the flavours. The pasta sauce is ready.

To prepare the Pasta Dish-

  • Prepare the Spiral pasta according to the instructions on the package.
  • When you drain the pasta once it is done, reserve a cup of water and drain off all the remaining pasta water.
  • In a bowl at medium heat, pour the earlier prepared pasta sauce, the reserved cup of pasta water, and the drained pasta.
  • Mix well to coat the pasta with the sauce. Cover and simmer for about 2 minutes.
  • Sprinkle with fresh coriander powder and garnish with fresh coriander/cilantro leaves and serve hot.

This recipe goes to Ruth hosting Presto Pasta Nights every friday, with the theme as to send her pasta recipes every week. I really liked her theme and the idea because, i cook pasta every weekend, and i look forward to try out different and new recipes of pasta dishes everytime. Her blog will surely help me 🙂 Thanks Ruth !

Interesting Read: Do you know your pasta shapes?

Luv,
Mona

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Haleem~I

September 19th, 2007 Mona Posted in Broken Wheat/Daliya, Capsicum, Carrot/Gajar, Chane ki Dal, Eid/Ramadhan/Iftaar, Green Beans/Binees ki phalli, Green Chillies, Hyderabadi special, Lamb/Beef/Mutton/Veal/Sheep, Peas/Matar, Poultry/Murgh, Red Lentils/Masoor ki Dal, White Cauliflower/Phool Gobi, Yellow Lentil/Tuvar ki Dal/Toor dal 26 Comments »

Haleem, is a stew or a porridge made by slow cooking the lentils, meat and broken wheat together. It is a nutritous one-dish meal, perfect for a cold weather, or a starving stomach.

Murgh/Chicken Haleem garnished with fried onion slices, halved lime and sliced green chillies

It is mostly a middle-eastern dish in origins, heavily modified by Hyderabadis to suite their palate and is today one of the most famed dishes of Hyderabad city. It is usually prepared by muslims at Iftaar or dinner in the holy month of Ramadhan. I remember back in India, stalls and shops, especially for the month of Ramadhan would be set up and people would gather in big crowds to have it then and there, or parcel it and take home for everyone at home. The crowds and the stalls, the Pista restaurant famous for Haleem being one such, which would especially be seen in the month of Ramadhan in Hyderabad was a sight to watch, remember and recollect always.

This dish needs some pre-planning and is a little bit time consuming. But you will definitely love it once you try it. It is a balanced, delicious and famous Hyderabadi one dish meal.

I have been trying out many ways of preparing this delicious one dish meal and here is my modified simpler version of the dish. Inshallah I will post my Ammi’s version of Haleem in the future.

Haleem – Slow Cooked Lentils, Wheat and Meat/Vegetables Porridge
Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

For Nonvegetarian Version-

Lamb/Veal Meat, boneless or with bone – 300 gms, washed and cubed (or) Chicken meat, boneless or with bone – 300 gms washed and cubed (I suggest using meat with bone) (you could also use minced chicken or lamb/veal meat)

For Vegetarian Version-

Fresh/Frozen chopped mixed Vegetables -300gms (you can use chopped vegetables like Cauliflower/PhulGobi, Peas/Matar, Carrots/Gajar, Capsicums/Shimla Mirch, Green Beans/Phalli)

Remaining Ingredients:

Broken Wheat/Bulgar Wheat/Dalia – 1 1/2 cups
Split Bengal Gram/Chana Dal/Chane ki dal – 2 tbsp
Split Yellow Lentils/Masoor dal – 2 tbsp
Split Yellow Lentils/Tuvar dal – 4 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Turmeric/Haldi – 1/2 tsp
Canola oil – 6 tbsp
Onions – 4, large, finely sliced
Ginger-Garlic paste – 4 tbsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Coriander seeds – 2 tsp, dry roasted and powdered
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp, dry roasted and powdered

Garam masala – 1 tsp

For Garnish:

Mint leaves/Pudina – chopped, for garnish
Cilantro/Kothmir – chopped, for garnish
Green chillies/Hari Mirch – 4, finely chopped or slit
Fried Onion/Pyaz – 1 cup
Juicy Lemon/Lime – 4, halved
Ghee – 2 tbsp (optional)

Method:

1. Add the broken wheat to surplus fresh cool water and drain in very fine wire mesh strainer several times to wash it, and soak the it and the lentils~chana dal, tuvar dal and masoor dal, seperately overnight or for atleast 3 hours, in generous amount of fresh cool water.
2. For a Non-vegetarian version, pressure cook the meat in surplus amount of water enough to cover it along with a pinch of salt and turmeric till tender. Chicken Meat will cook faster than Lamb meat. Once the meat is tender, drain, measure and reserve the stock in a bowl, shred the meat and keep aside in an anther bowl. Discard the bones. If using minced meat, cook it in a little oil, salt and red chilli powder until browned evenly. Keep aside.
3. Drain the soaking wheat and lentils and keep aside in a fine wire mesh strainer. In a non-stick 7 quart Dutch oven at medium heat, pour oil and as it gets warmed up throw in the sliced onion and stir fry until evenly browned and crisp (make sure you do not burn it). Remove the pan from heat and using a slotted spoon, remove about 1/2 of the fried onions from the pan onto a platter and spread the fried onions well so that they crisp up. Return the pan with leftover fried onions to heat and add ginger-garlic paste, coriander and cumin seed powder, red chilli powder, salt and turmeric. Add the drained broken wheat and lentils and mix well. Pour in the reserved meat stock. If you are preparing a vegetarian version, you can add vegetable stock or just plain water. You need to add a total of 8 cups of liquid to the saucepan. Let it boil once then simmer and let it cook covered, until the lentils are tender and the wheat mushy, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring it every once in a while taking care it doesnt stick to the bottom of the dish.
4. Stir in the garam masala and add the frozen/fresh chopped vegetables, or for a non-vegetarian version, the reserved shredded meat or minced meat, and mix well. Let it cook covered till the vegetables are tender and oil comes to surface, about 5 -8 minutes. You can keep adding a little water if needed. Remove the dutch oven from heat. Let it cool down slightly.
5. Once cool, pour the entire thing into a food processor and process for a minute. Pour back into the dutch oven, add a little water, and let simmer covered for 5 more minutes.
6. To serve pour the Haleem into individual plates with a laddle and garnish each plate with a few chopped mint leaves, chopped cilantro, chopped/slit green chillies, reserved fried onion, halved lemon for squeezing fresh lemon juice and a dollop of ghee(optional) for a deliciously nutritious meal.

Luv,
Mona

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Colourful Pasta

July 14th, 2007 Mona Posted in Black Beans, Canned Tomato paste, Canola Oil, Capsicum, Carrot/Gajar, Dals (Pulses & Legumes), Green Beans/Binees ki phalli, Lamb/Beef/Mutton/Veal/Sheep, Milk and Milk Products, Olive/Zetoon, Pasta & Noodles, Red Chilli powder, Salt/Namak, Tomato/Tamatar (fresh), Turmeric/Haldi, Yellow Onion/Pyaaz 4 Comments »

There’s one thing about pasta that I like a lot. It can be made in a thousand different ways changing the flavours with every ingredient you wish to add to it. While preparing pasta you can experiment a lot, with whatever you like, and it gets ready instantly for a delicious heartful meal.

This recipe which I make is loved by everyone in my home. You can substitute meat in this recipe with the same amount of chicken breast pieces, or omit both and make it a vegetarian pasta dish.

Serves : 4

Colourful Pasta

Ingredients:

Lamb/Veal meat – 110 gms, cubed into bite size pieces
Fusilli Pasta – 400 gms
Ripe Tomatoes – 2, large, chopped finely
Canned Tomato paste – 1 cup
Carrots – 2, washed peeled and sliced
Red capsicum – 1, large
Green beans/Binees – 1 cup, washed and chopped
Canned Black beans – 1 cup, drained and gently washed
Salt – to taste
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Garam masala – 2 tsp
Yellow Onion – 1, small, sliced
Canola Oil – 4 1/2 tbsp
Parmesan Cheese – 1 cup, Grated (optional)
Black Olives – 1 cup, sliced and deseeded (optional)

Method:

  • Put a pressure cooker on heat and add half a tablespoon of oil to it. Add the washed and cubed lean meat pieces and stir until no longer red. Pour a little water and pressure cook till it becomes soft. You can even use some left over meat. Just shred it into bite size pieces. Remove the meat with all its juices to a bowl once done.
  • Take a pan and add two teaspoon oil to it. Fry the cut carrots, capsicum, french beans individually for 3-4 minutes each and remove in an another bowl.
  • In a sauce pan, add the remaining oil and put it on heat. Add the sliced onions to it and let them turn translucent. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and cover the lid for a few minutes till the tomatoes have become soft. Add the tomato paste and stir to mix. Add salt, chilli powder, garam masala and turmeric and stir again. Now add the meat pieces with all its juices to the tomato mixture and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
  • Meanwhile cook Fusilli according to instructions and reserve half cup of the water in which the Fusilli was cooked. Drain and keep aside.
  • Add the drained pasta with its reserved water, the drained black bean and the sautéed vegetables to the tomato mixture. Reduce the heat to medium low and let it cook uncovered for 5 more minutes.
  • Serve immediately into individual plates sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese and sliced olives on top.

Luv,
Mona

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