Romantic Pasta.

Italian Paasta when prepared with an Indian twist - I call this blend in tastes - Romantic paasta.

Ingredients:
1. Fusili Pasta - 1 cup.(I generally pick fusili - the twisted curls, but you could use any type of the available store pasta)
2. Spring onions/shallots - chopped small - half cup
3. Half of medium sized french onion - chopped small
4. 4 medium sized Tomatoes - (2 grated , 2 slit into 4 pieces each)
5. 5- 6 Garlic pods
7. Olives - green or black - about 2 spoons.
8. Black Pepper powder - 1 tea spoon
9. Milk/cream - 3 table spoons.
10. Corn flour - 1 table spoon.
11. Coriander leaves - chopped - 2 tsp.
12. Salt to taste
13. Olive oil - 4 to 5 tsp.
14. Cheese(optional)
15. Garam masala - 1/4 tsp(optional)
16. Brocolli (Optional)


Method:

1. Boil 2 cups of water in a pan and drop the pasta in (with a tea spoon of oil and a spoon of salt) until cooked.Drain down the extra water and wash it in cold water. Keep it aside.
2. Heat a pan and add 2 tsp of olive oil. Place the slit tomatoes on the pan to have them roasted on both the sides. Take them out and keep aside.
3. Next, add the chopped onion, shallots, thin sliced garlic pods into the pan.saute until onion turns transparent. To this mixture add the grated tomato puree, Garam Masala and stir until the rawness is gone.
4. Mix cream/milk with the flour without forming lumps and add this to the mixture in pan.
5. Mix the ingredients well until they are properly cooked.(If you are using brocolli you need to boil them separately and then add them at the end of step 3.)
6. Next add the cooked fusili into the pan along with the olives and the roasted tomatoes.
7. Give it a quuick turn.

For serving : Pour the contents to a bowl . Sprinkle the pepper powder, coriander leaves and if you love cheese , you can grate a small cube when the pasta is hot

"Black Olives Gundus".

Ingredients:

1. 1/4 cup all purpose flour
2. 1/4 cup Rava/Sooji
3. 1 handful of channa gram (Soaked in water for about 2 hours)
4. 3 Tb.Sp of rice flour
5. 20 black olives (Canned olives)
6. 1 Onion medium sized
7. Half a bunch of Coriander leaves and Curry leaves
8. 3-4 green Chillies
9. 1 tbsp White Vinegar
10. Salt
11. Grated Coconut 1/4 cup
12. 2 tsp Cumin seeds
13. 1 inch of Ginger
14. Oil to fry.


Method:

• Chop the onions and fresh coriander and curry leaves.
• Grind ginger , olives, green chilli , soaked channa gram and coconut into a fine paste.
• In a bowl mix rice flour, rava and all purpose flour. Add cumin seeds ,vinegar and salt to this mix.
• Add the paste into the bowl to make the dough ready to be fried in hot oil. [consistency of Dough should be as that of the Chapati dough]
• Make small round balls of size as marbles and deep fry them. Once they turn golden brown they are ready to be taken off the flame.
• Place the fried olive gundus in a tissue paper to remove the extra oil.
• Can be eaten with tomato sauce or mint chutney.[I dont have a pic to show how it looks like when prepared. Will put it up when I make them again]

Variations to the above recepie: 1. You can avoid the all purpose flour and use urad dal flour instead. It turns out a bit soft versus the crispy nature of the latter option.

"ChocoVanilla microwave cake".

Ingredients:

1. 1 1/2 cups Flour

2. 3 tbsp Cocoa Powder
3. 1 tsp Baking Soda
4. 1 cup Powdered Sugar
5. 5 tbsp Oil
6. 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
7. 1 tbsp White Vinegar
8. 1 cup Milk

Method:

• Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powdered sugar together.
• Add milk and vanilla essence to the flour mixture. Then add oil and white vinegar.
• Mix well.
• Pour into a greased microwave safe bowl and microwave on high(900W) for 5-7 minutes.
• Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Note:* I added a little yeast into the batter to attain a soft and spongy texture. **Also few nuts and raisins mixture was added to bring the crunchiness in the bites.

Ruskizza

When you have an urge to eat some simple snack yet exotic in its style then Ruskizza is what you have to consider. This is a recepie idea borrowed from my sister's friend. For a pizza lover like me, Ruskizza is mini pizza delights.

Ingredients:
1.  Rusk/Toast  - 6 pieces.
2.  Tomato - 2 nos
3.  Onions - 2 nos
4.  Tomato ketchup
5.  Origano - 2 tsp
6.  Pizza cheese - 75 grams
7.  Olives [black or green] - 6 no
8.  Jalapeno - 4 no [ Can be substituted with green chilli]
9.  Mushroom [Optional]
10. Salt to taste.

Method:
Chop Tomato,olives,mushroom and onions into small cubes.
Place the rusk on a microwave safe plate. On it arrange the cut vegetables,olives and jalapeno.
Add a small dip of tomato ketchup and grate the cheese to cover the veggies.
Sprinkle origano and a pinch of salt.
Microwave on medium heat for about 5 min or till the cheese melts and combines with the veggies.

That's it! You can indulge into your tasty ruskizza.

Variations: Panneer can also be diced up and used.
                   Capsicum is another favourite I generally tend to use.