Veg Penne Pasta

Hello foodies!

You know what I do when I am bored of making the usual daal-sabzi-chapatti combo? I make pasta!

And when Little M comes into the kitchen and sees me prepping it up he jumps up with excitement which, for me means no more haggling with him over finishing the food on his plate. When I make pasta I know his plate will be wiped off without any fuss.

This pasta recipe is not a usual sight in our Indian kitchens. I have come up with this recipe after referring to and trying quite a few recipes on the internet. This is one dish I am very happy and confident about as I have cooked it time and again over the last 2-3 years. :-)

Its not a quick recipe and takes a bit over an hour to prep it up as there is a lot of chopping of veggies involved and the pasta needs to be boiled and cooled separately. But isn't that good news to the ears of mommies like me as we will be feeding so many veggies to our kids who make a face at and much fuss over finishing their sabzi?

I normally use wholewheat pasta or semolina pasta and love to incorporate many colourful veggies to give my pasta a colourful look. Eating lots of colourful fruits and veggies is healthy and nutritious too.

I have used onions, spring onion, yellow and orange bell pepper, carrots and baby corn. You can go on and add other veggies like sweet corn kernels, peas, beans, green capsicum, mushroom. I have tried using these veggies before and they taste as good as the vegetables used in this recipe.

Let's begin? Cook with me as I take you through each and every step with countless pictures! :-)

Prepping time: 30min

Cooking time: 30min

Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

3 cups penne pasta

3-4 tbsp butter
1 tsp cooking oil

2-3 garlic cloves

1-2 spring onion, chopped vertically

1-2 green chilies, chopped vertically

1 onion, quartered into small

1 small yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 small orange bell pepper, chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

4-5 baby corn, chopped

1 small tomato, finely chopped

2 tbsp pasta sauce or tomato ketchup

Spring onion greens, finely chopped for garnish

1tsp black pepper

salt to taste

Keep your veggies ready and then begin with boiling the pasta.

1) Boil pasta in a large container with enough water and a tsp of salt, until it looks cooked but not mushy. Turn off the gas and drain the water using a colander. Keep aside.

Tip: To avoid your pasta to not stick to each other, after you drain the boiling water in a colander, run your pasta under cold or tap water in the same colander to stop it from cooking any further. Do this carefully so that you don't break the pasta and do until your pasta is cold. Now take a tbsp of cooking oil in your hands and lightly coat your pasta with it. Your pasta will be non-sticky and so good looking. :-)

2) After boiling and keeping the pasta aside, take a huge non-stick wok/pan and melt butter in it.

Tip: Whenever I am using butter to cook, I always put a tsp of cooking oil as it keeps the butter from getting burnt.

3) Add chopped garlic. Stir but don't let it brown.

4) Add spring onion. Stir.

 

5) Add onions. Stir fry for 2min.

6) Put the vegetable that will take the longest to cook first. Yes! Toss in the chopped carrots.

7) Add the baby corn. Stir.

8) Now is the time for our colourful bell peppers to go in!

9) Put in tomatoes and stir fry until the vegetables are cooked but not brown or mushy. They should still be crisp and for that you need to constantly stir on medium to high flame. :-)

Add salt and black pepper now!

10) Add in the pasta sauce (I use American Garden) and the boiled pasta.

11) Turn the flame a bit low and toss well to mix it properly without breaking the pasta.

11) Turn off the gas. Garnish with spring onion.

 

12) Serve hot, preferably with cheese. :-)

How do you like to make your pasta?

Is red sauce pasta your family's favourite too?

Or do you prefer creamy white sauce pasta?

Do try this colourful and nutritious recipe and let me know thoughts on it. I would love to read what you think!

 Thanks for reading! :-)