Penne Pasta with fresh tomato, Zuccini and Basil Sauce

Italian cuisine is loved by all in our house and  I make ( or try!!!) Italian pasta with different sauces at home often. Last week, we were loaded with lots of fresh homegrown tomatoes, zucchinis, fresh basil given by our kind neighbour. So, I decided to make a tasty,creamy pasta sauce with these fresh homegrowns. The pasta was delicious with the side of  toasted fresh Jalapeno Olive Oil Bread.  Fresh basil leaves garnishing enhances the taste of the pasta dish definitely.

We could not resist extra servings to our plate and finally the kadai was empty..An excellent Italian dinner at home.!!!(Of course with very less cost).

Ingredients

Penne Pasta - 3 Cups

Fresh Tomatoes -  3 Big ones or 4 or 5 Medium Ones

Fresh Zucchini - 1 Medium

Fresh Basil Leaves Shredded - 1 cup

Garlic Pods - 3

Olive Oil - 3 tbsp

Black Pepper Powder - 2 tsp

Italian Seasoning Powder - 1 teaspoon

Oregano Seasoning Powder - 1\2 teaspoon

Salt - To Taste

Kraft Shredded Cheese ( Italian ) -  2 tbsp

Parmesan Cheese - To Taste

Method

• Cook the Penne Pasta in a big vessel with little Olive Oil and some salt. Mean time, cut the tomato, zucchini and basil leaves and keep them ready. Cut the Garlic Pods into small pieces and keep it ready.
• Keep all the ingredients that are required for making this pasta closer before starting the process.
• Drain the pasta after its cooked and keep it ready.
• In the kadai, add 2 tbsp of Olive Oil first. When its heated up, add the shredded garlic pieces into it. Fry them for a minute and then add tomatoes to it.
• After few minutes, add the zucchini pieces to it and add little bit of salt and close the kadai with the lid. Let them cook on a medium flame for few minutes.
• Then, add black pepper powder and the seasoning powders to the kadai and mix them well.
• Add half a cup of fresh basil leaves ( shredded ) into the kadai and mix it well.
• Add the cooked Penne Pasta into the mixture now. Add required amount of salt to the kadai and mix them well.
• Add 1 tbsp of Olive Oil now and let everything cook on a medium flame for a minute or more.
• Switch off the flame. Now add the Italian shredded cheese into the pasta and stir it. You can add more black pepper to the pasta if you want it to be more spicy.
• Now garnish the Penne Pasta with some shredded fresh basil leaves and serve the pasta into a pasta plate.
• Add a dash of Parmesan Cheese on top of the pasta and serve with a side of some toasted speciality bread.

Variations

I used the Kraft Shredded Cheese Italian Variety for making this pasta. You can use any other good cheese variety of your choice.

You can adjust the spice level with the black pepper powder to your taste.

You can add more Italian cheese if you like a rich creamy pasta.

Tips

Add the cheese after you switch off the flame and just before serving the pasta. Melted Cheese makes the pasta dish creamy just before serving.

Don't forget to garnish the pasta with fresh basil leaves at the end.

Don't over cook the zucchini pieces and also the penne pasta.

Beerakaya Thokku Pachidi \ Ridgegourd Skin Pachidi \ Peerkangai Tholi Thogayal

Ridge gourd ( Peerkangai in Tamil and Beerakaya in Telugu ) is very low in saturated fat and cholesterol and has very high fiber content in it..Its an ideal vegetable for optimum health and weight loss. It has excellent cooling properties and good for all ages.  Ridge gourd as a whole is used in Indian Cuisine in many different ways. We can make currys, Kootu, Bajjis, Thogayal or pachidi, a simple dal or in any other forms. This Ridge gourd skin Pachidi is also one of the tastiest dishes made with less ingredients and Ridge gourd skin. If the skin is fresh, it enhances the taste of the Pachidi as well....

Ingredients

Ridge gourd Skin -  1 full cup

Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

Hing \ Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Urad Dal \ Ulutham Paruppu - 1 tbsp

Coriander Seeds - 2 tsp

Jeera \ Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Dry Red Chillies - 5 or 6 based on your spice level

Garlic Pods - 2 or 3 big ones

Salt - To Taste

Method

• In the kadai, add Olive oil and add all the ingredients except the Ridge gourd Skin and roast them well to golden brown but not black.
• Transfer them to the mixer grinder and fry the Ridge gourd skin in the remaining oil thoroughly. Cover it while frying for a minute in order to cook them well too...
• Then transfer the fried Ridge gourd skin too to the mixer grinder and grind everything in the mixer grinder together along with some salt.
• Grind them coarsely and not to a fine paste. Now the pachidi \ Thogayal is ready to be eaten with hot white rice, rotis, chappathis.

Sesame Rice \ Ellu Sadham \ Nuvula Annam

This is not a traditional version of the sesame rice which you generally think of. This version is purely made for my convenience with few ingredients I like and I think...!!!! Try this out and you will surely love this spicy  rice on any day. This can be a very good option for lunch box,  a good prasadam on festive days, a different rice for potlucks...I really  wanted to make some spicy rice which should be different from the regular ones and also wanted it to be very tasty, healthy and yummy for my kids too.  This goes very well with a side of vadams \ appalams or with a simple vegetable fry.

Ingredients

Cooked Sona Masoori rice -  1.5 cup

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Jaggery Powdered - 2 tsp

Seasoning Powder for the Rice

White Sesame or roasted brown sesame - 4 tbsp

Coriander Seeds - 2 tbsp

Channal Dal \ Bengal gram \ Kadalai Paruppu - 2 tbsp

Red Chillies Dry - 2 Big

Jeera - 1 tsp

Tamarind - 2 pinches of tamarind

Coconut shredded or dry coconut powder - 2 tbsp

Tempering \ Tadka

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Hing \ Asafoetida - 1 dash

Mustard Seeds - 3 tbsp

Jeera \ Cumin - 1 tsp

Urad Dal \ Ulutham Paruppu \ Minna Pappu - 1 tbsp

Channa Dal \ Bengal Gram \ Kadalai Paruppu - 1 tbsp

Dry Red Chillies - 3 or 4 Medium Size

Curry Leaves \ Karivepillai \ Kadipatha - 1 full stem of leaves

Ground nuts - 4 tbsp

Method

1. Wash and cook the Sona Masoori Rice and spread it on a big bowl with little oil and keep it ready.
2. For the seasoning powder, fry the ingredients as mentioned above with little oil and grind them nicely and keep it ready.
3. On the same kadai, add remaining oil. When oil gets heated , add the ingredients for the tempering ( tadka ). Try to fry the contents to golden brown only and make sure that they don't turn black.
4. After its done, switch off the flame. Add the seasoning powder to the kadai. Mix well and slowly add the rice to the kadai and stir them carefully.
5. Add required amount of salt and jaggery powder to the rice and mix everything thoroughly so that the rice gets mixed with the salt, powder uniformly.
6. Now the sesame rice is get to be packed. This rice tastes very good after few hours of preparation.

Variations

You can customize the seasoning powder according to your taste buds and make the sesame rice in your own way too.

You can add cashew nuts along with groundnuts if this is made for a potluck, temple prasad or any other occasions.

Tips

Don't overcook the rice and make it pasty.  Texture of the rice plays a major role in any mixed rice preparation.

Happy Ganesha Chaturthi



Handmade Ganesh ( Sandal and turmeric powder ) made by my husband sitting at the center!!

Wish you all a very Happy Ganesha Chaturthi....Ganesha is my most favourite god and I always pray to him for something special and somehow he shows me the right path all the time.  Whenever I start with a new work or visit a new place or new home,  a small ganesha idol or atleast a small ganesha photo would hit me all the time which i consider very lucky...Like that , my ganesha collection at home has been growing.....Let us all pray to Lord ganesha for peace throughout the world.