Mums and Babies

Vegetable Pasta in tomato sauce

Pasta is a generic term for an Italian recipe which means variants of noodles, food made from dough of flour, water and eggs. Pasta recipe is high in complex carbohydrates and takes longer time to digest which means your stomach is still full several hours after eating.

Some pasta is fortified with folic acid that helps reduce birth defects of the brain and spinal cord. The best quality pasta is made of purely with semolina. Pastas are available in different shapes in the market.

Some are called spaghetti (Most common round rod-Pasta), Fusilli (Long coiled –pasta), Lasagna (wide flat – pasta) etc made with varied combination of vegetables, sea foods, meat, and cheeses. Italian brands of pasta are bit thicker than the American brands. Pasta can be eaten as daily staple food.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pasta -Fusilli
• I cup sliced onions
• 3 flakes of garlic cloves
• I big carrot cut into small pieces
• 75g frozen sweet baby corn
• 1 cup , French beans cut into small pieces
• 1 big Cauliflower, cut into dice
• Few pieces of spring onion
• 1 cup chopped capsicum
• 1tsp corn flour
• Oregano 1 teaspoon
• Basil leaves, torn 5
• 1/2 table spoon of Chilly flakes
• 4 tablespoons of Olive oil
• Tomato juice 1/2 cup
• Black peppercorns, crushed 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste
• Cheese, grated 5 tablespoons
• Fresh cream 1/2 cup
• 4 cups water

Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

METHOD
Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water till just cooked. Drain the water and set the pasta aside. Also blanch the vegetables in a separated sauce pan (cauliflower, carrots, French beans, baby corn) for 5-6 minutes until they become just tender. Drain the vegetables and set them aside to cool.
Heat oil in a pan. Add onions, garlic and ginger and sauté for two minutes.

Add green capsicum and fry well. Add the tomato sauce, cream and the corn flour. Mix well and cook for 5 minutes till a thick consistency appears. Add the pasta to the sauce. Now add all the vegetables which we have blanched earlier. Add salt, basil leaves chilly flakes and fry them in low flame. Add a little water if the mixture is too dry. Add crushed peppercorns and oregano herb now. Transfer into a serving dish. Drizzle the remaining olive oil and serve immediately. It can be decorated with the grated cheese that will enhance the taste.

SPECIAL NOTE

Some times tomato pasta sauce are prepared separately and then served with the pasta. This tomato sauce is prepared by cooking tomato sauce in butter and adding whipped fresh cream into it.