Beginning is always the hardest.
Of course, there is no escaping the middle part before you reach success. Nobody tells you how the process is just as hard! People only either nudge you towards the beginning or drag you away from it.
At times they would also pass comments like, “You have no talent”, “Why you are you wasting time”, “Stop and do something productive or something which would earn you money.”
You do not necessarily have to listen to them. If you want to pursue something which you think is good for your soul or which makes you happy then you go ahead.
All that matters is that you keep the spark inside you going. Do something. Do anything. Do everything as long you want to do them.
Watched a simple watercolour DIY on instagram?
Do it. Don’t listen to people telling you are too old for watercolour. Nobody is too old to have a little fun. We have the perception that things which do not earn money is utterly useless to life.
No!
Everything has a purpose. You can only realise it when you piece the puzzle together and look at the big picture. The more you work that brain the more it will actually work. Work it; otherwise we are just trapped inside an electronic box.
It’s pasta day today!
Well, to tell you the truth, I have never liked pastas. I am not a fan of Maggi either, ate them few times in the past and it didn’t sit well with my stomach.
Perhaps, I would like a true Italian made paste? Only time will tell.
I was out grocery shopping after a long time and I wanted to cross-off a pasta dish for the blog. So, here we are. Though I don’t buy maggi and other instant noodles from the market, I always buy the local brands without flavour packets.
I tell you, it has become a tradition! I will try making pasta every other year and they always, always ends up tasting like tomato chutney(thakkali chutney).
Where would I find canned tomatoes, spicing and tomato paste before the Amazon and Flipkart era in my small town?
I also buy Kasuri methi(dry fenugreek leaves) once every three years( very specific, am I not? That seems to be my culinary life!) which is full of flavours and thought, ‘why not try making tomato chutney pasta(pun intended!)’ with it. Thankfully, I did not end up with yet another flavourless tomato chutney pasta this year!
et viola the recipe for a very spicy and saucy Fusilli. Full of aroma and heat!
Ingredients
2T sunflower oil
1 medium red onion
2 medium garlic pods
4 small red tomatoes
Few stalks of coriander leaves(without stem)
2 long dry Red chilli – grind coarsely in a mixer/food processor. Ofcourse, use small jar attachment.
1 Tablespoon dry kasuri methi leaves + 1/2 t – soak in hot water for 10 mins and discard the water.
1 teaspoon everyday madras curry powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt and 1/8 cup water
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time for the whole pasta dish: 30 mins
Recipe Instruction
- Roughly chop all the vegetables.
- Add oil to a hot wok or broad pan. Add onion and fry until translucent.
- Add tomato, garlic, coriander leaves, 1 T of kasuri methi, everyday madras curry powder, processed dry red chilli flakes, salt and fry everything until the tomatoes no longer has raw smell and methi leaves it’s aroma or cook everything for about 15 minutes in medium flame.
- Cool the mixture and grind into a smooth paste.
- Transfer to the same pan or wok, add 1/8 cup of water along with 1/2 t of kasuri methi and simmer the sauce for 5 minutes in medium flame.
- Stir the sauce occasionally.
- Meanwhile cook the pasta and add it to the sauce. Cook again for a minute and switch off the flame.
How to cook Fusilli
Boil 2 cups of water with 1 teaspoon of sea salt. When the water comes to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook for 7 minutes.
Notes
- Serving: one.
- Best served: Reheated, after few hours of making. Tastes best with hot cup of Indian tea!
- Pasta in this recipe is cooked completely(well done) unlike the usual al dente style.
- Reduce the amount of oil used in the recipe, if preferred.
- Silicone spatula is recommended to scrape every bit of that spicy sauce from the food processor!
So…, would you like kasuri methi in your pasta? What are the other desi flavourings you prefer? With that in mind to research about..
I’ll be back with another post. Sayonara, folks!
