Del Monte Pasta In Vegan Avocado Garlic Sauce

Pasta was definitely not one of those things which I can claim to have grown up eating. Rather, it was a late addition to my culinary canvas. I was first introduced to pasta only a few years back on one of my international trips and I promptly fell in love with it! From the heartiness of a scrumptious lasagna to the spicy bite of an arriabata sauce and the creamy goodness of a carbonara, I simply loved it all. It is easy to see why the Italians are often teased for their affinity to food. I mean with such delicious fare on hand it is hardly surprising that one gives in to the temptation to indulge in some gastronomic affairs is it?

I have never visited Italy, even though it sits high on my travel bucket list. However from what I’ve heard and read, I’ve often felt that the spirit of Italy bears several striking resemblances to India. Both have cultural sensitivities which have developed from deep and ancient roots. The chaos, the heat, the people, the passion – and of course the love of food – it is quite easy to imagine that India and Italy are twin souls indeed!

Although I had been visiting Italian restaurants for quite some time, it is only recently that I actually started cooking Italian at home. It is exciting to try and recreate the flavours of a special dish which you’ve tried at a restaurant, within the confines of your own kitchen; and sometimes after some trial and error when you end up exceeding even your own expectations and you are overjoyed! Thanks to high quality pastas such as Del Monte Pasta which are available in the market today, if you are hit by sudden cravings for a comforting bowl of minestrone, you can go ahead and whip up a batch right there in your kitchen! In fact, Del Monte even offers a wide range of yummy pasta sauces made from the finest ingredients to make your life even easier.

While certain dishes such as the ever popular lasagna is quite a labour of love which can be reserved for lazy Sunday lunches, there are also a number of easy and quick pasta recipes which come in handy on busy weekdays when you are juggling a million different things and racing against time to put a healthy, filling and tasty meal on the table. Today, I am going to share one such fantastic recipe with you. It is a family favourite and I make it quite often these days as it is loved by one and all!

Vegan Pasta with avocado sauce & sautéed mushrooms. 
Serves: 2. Cooking Time: 15 minutes.

Avocados are chock full of good fats and they are packed with nutrients. They are rich in anti-oxidants and fibre. They aid in digestion and can help lower your cholesterol levels too. Ripe avocados have a rich, buttery texture and a mild flavour to them. We are going to exploit these very characteristics to come up with a creamy pasta sauce – without any dairy and sans the guilt!

Tip: Choosing good avocados - Unripe avocados are hard, taste bitter and to be honest, horrible. On the other hand, overripe ones tend to get mushy and unappetising. When buying avocados, I prefer to buy unblemished ones that have not yet ripened and then I allow them to ripen at home. Simply put them in a paper bag and leave them on your counter-top for a couple of days. You will find that they soften and yield slightly to the touch. You can refrigerate them when they reach this stage and use within a couple of days. Now, let’s get on with the recipe without much further ado!

Ingredients:

Del Monte Pasta – 2 cups. (I’ve used spirali but you can use almost any other pasta as well; however pastas with ridges on them will help the sauce to stick to the pasta more efficiently.)

Avocado – 1 ripe

Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves

Mushrooms – 2 cups

Salt, pepper, chilli flakes – according to taste

Italian herbs – 1 teaspoon

Lemon juice – 1 teaspoon

Olive oil – 2 teaspoons + 1 teaspoon

Method:

Step 1: Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add a generous helping of salt and then throw in the pasta. Cook till al dente. 

(Tip: Alternatively, you can crumble in a stock cube and then add the pasta. It adds so much flavour to the pasta.)

Step 2: Extract the flesh of the avocado. Add the garlic, salt, pepper and a teaspoon of olive oil. Blend the mixture into a smooth paste in a mixie. Sprinkle the lemon juice over this to avoid the avocado from darkening and your sauce is done. Keep aside.

Step 3: Add the remaining olive oil to a pan and once it heats up throw in the sliced mushrooms. Add salt, chilli flakes and the dried Italian herbs. Sauté till the mushrooms leave out their moisture and are well cooked. Turn off the heat.

Step 4: By now your pasta would have cooked up. Drain and add to the sautéed mushrooms. Next add the blended sauce. Mix well.  

(Tip: Reserve a small amount of the water that the pasta cooked in. If you find that the dish is a bit dry to your liking you can add a few teaspoons of the reserved water to make it smoother.)

Step 5: Serve garnished with fresh sliced tomatoes and a sprig of parsley.

Delightfully creamy and refreshingly light, this dish is simply bursting with a buttery flavour tinged with just the right hint of garlic. It makes for a fresh and satisfying meal and what’s more, I guarantee that you will not miss the cheese!

Enjoy! (Tip: To make a non-vegetarian version, you can add substitute the mushrooms with grilled chicken)

*This post is an entry to Indiblogger's Del Monte #ItalianEscapades contest.

The Expat Life: Food Club Master Class At Kempinski, Ajman

BBC Good Food Me's Editor Sudeshna Ghosh

As a member of BBC Good Food Middle-East’s Food Club, I was invited to a cooking masterclass at Kempinski hotel in Ajman last evening. Usually, most interesting events like this tend to happen in Dubai and I end up not going all the way. When I heard that this one was closer to home, I jumped at the chance! 

Welcome Drink: Mango Lassi

The event was held at Bukhara, Kempinski’s Indian restaurant which serves up delicious north-west frontier fare. Sipping on our chilled glasses of mango lassi, we got to learn 3 recipes from Chef Manoj Aswal.

Chef Manoj Aswal of Bukhara, Kempinski, Ajman

He started off with a very innovative Dahi Ke Kebab with raw mango and onion chutney. When I heard the name of this dish, I assumed that the chef would be marinating pieces of meat with yoghurt (dahi) before grilling them into kebabs. However, he totally surprised me by making kebabs out of yoghurt itself! One would imagine that the yoghurt would disintegrate and fall apart, but he added a secret ingredient to avoid this - roast and ground lotus seeds! Really different!

Veg Starter: Dahi ke Kebab

This was followed by the ubiquitous Chicken Tikka, which was served with raw papaya relish. The chicken was tender and juicy. Scrumptious! Chef Manoj explained how we can incorporate the trademark smoky flavour of tandoori cooking at home, where most of us don't own tandoors. Want to know how? Simply ignite a piece of charcoal, add a dash of ghee (clarified butter) to it, place it in a heatproof ramekin and place the ramekin into the bowl of marinated meat. Cover and let it sit for about 30 minutes to allow the meat to marinate and the flavours to infuse, before proceeding with the cooking process. Voila! 

Non-veg Starter: Chicken Tikka

The demo was wound up on a sweet note with a tasty and crispy Saeb Ki Jalebi. We were given samplings of the 3 dishes – my favourite was the dessert, but the other two were pretty good too.Chef Manoj Aswal was very helpful in addressing our queries and shared several tips and tricks for cooking Indian food. The dishes demonstrated were simple with the perfect balance of traditional and contemporary flavours.

Cooking away!

All participants were given goodie bags which contained a copy of BBC’s Good Food Middle East magazine, a jar of raw papaya relish, printed recipes of the 3 dishes and a bright red coffee mug, which proudly proclaims, "I'm a foodie!". I am definitely going to try out the dishes at home and I am indeed looking forward to more such great events! If you are around the Ajman area, do consider dropping by Bukhara for a mouthwatering Indian feast. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Goodies!

My Weekend Gourmet Party - With Kitchens Of India

UPDATE: This post won second place! Yay! 

This post is my entry to Indiblogger's contest in association with Kitchens Of India.

If you were to host a party for your friends or family, what would the theme of that party be?

I love experimenting in my kitchen and trying my hand at various dishes. But at the same time, in today’s busy world when one is juggling a hundred things to do, one doesn’t really have the time or energy to plan and whip up elaborate meals. The idea of slaving away in a hot kitchen and stressing over a grand meal is simply not appealing to me. But does that mean that we always have to order food from restaurants or just completely skip entertaining family and friends? Of course not! Having family or friends over for a pleasant meal can be an enjoyable experience – with a little help from the experts.

There are several brands of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook delicacies available in the market today. I have tried several of them but I must say that the range of products from Kitchens Of India are a step above the rest in terms of freshness, flavour as well as choices. Their authentic Indian fare comes to my rescue quite often – be it for a quick and tasty dinner on a busy weekday night or for mouth-watering fare at parties and get- togethers.

My Weekend Gourmet Party - Theme:

With our wedding anniversary coming up in a few months, I started thinking about throwing a memorable party for my dear ones. The theme that I would like to choose is retro-Bollywood. So all the guests need to be dressed up in vintage 80s style. Just to paint a better picture, imagine the male guests with bell bottom trousers and puffy hair while the female guests could really indulge in their fantasies of imitating the yesteryear queens of the silver screen! How about some short, form-fitting kurtis with chudidhars and the dupatta tied cross-wise to the side, paired with huge sunglasses? Or colourful saris in flowing chiffon with short pallus and hair done up in a big bun? Throw on some bright lipstick, winged eyeliner and a diva attitude – and you’re all set to have some fun! Let’s get the polka dots and loud colours back ladies!

Take a hint from Bollywood!
Pic source: santabanta.com

My Weekend Gourmet Party - Venue:

I prefer having my parties at my home sweet home. I feel it gives me more freedom to experiment as well as more control over the arrangements. To set the ambience I would do up living room with some cool posters of old Hindi movies in strategic locations. Antique brass urlis filled with water and pretty rose petals, fragrant jasmine and floating candles would add a warm glow to the entire room.

Photo credit: Niyam Bhushan
 (Used under the Creative Commons Attribution License)

All of us have a few old silk saris sitting deep inside our wardrobes. We don’t really want to wear them any more nor do we have the heart to give away such precious pieces. Why not repurpose them? A party with an Indian theme like what I am planning now would be the perfect opportunity to do so! One can use them as attractive curtains - just drape them over the windows and when the zari catches the light from the candles and shimmers it will truly be magical! Or we could also convert them into eye-catching cushion covers instead. A couple of couches with comfortable bolsters to lean on plus some nice chairs should complete the look.

Of course, what is a party without some good music? In the background, there would be classic Bollywood hits of the 80s playing along softly to indulge all of us in ecstatic nostalgia. The lilting melodies of R.D. Burman and Kishore Da will transport us back to a time when life was simple yet enjoyable.

Sari cushion covers from Indian Selections

Sari curtains from Indian Selections

My Weekend Gourmet Party - It's Chow Time!

And that brings us to the most important part of any party! I don’t know about you, but for me that part is definitely the food! While I want my guests to have a good time and enjoy themselves I also want to join in the fun – afterall it is my party, isn’t it!? Trust me, if I have spent the whole day sweating it out in the kitchen, by the time the party rolls around and my guests arrive I am going to be tired and washed out – not what one wishes an ideal hostess to be! Therefore I am going to make my life a little easier and reach out for Kitchens Of India.

Photo courtesy: niseag03
 (Used under the
Creative Commons Attribution License)

Drinks: To start off, I intend to greet my guests with a bright smile and a chilled glass of strawberry mojito.

A mojito is a classic Mexican drink made with lemon/lime juice, fresh mint and rum. It goes really well with Indian food and I would like to give my own spin to this refreshing drink.

To make this delightful drink, add a few teaspoons of Kitchens Of India’s Strawberry & Mint Conserve with a handful of ice cubes and some freshly squeezed lemon juice into a food processor. Blend till the conserve is well distributed and the ice cubes are crushed. Pour this mixture into glasses, top it off with some white rum, club soda and ice cubes. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and place a fresh cut strawberry or a wedge of lemon on the rim of the glass. Ta da! For a non-alcoholic version, simply skip the rum and add more soda or some lemonade. Cheers!

Appetizers: Everyone likes to munch on something as they savour their drinks and chit-chat. This is where, appetizers come into the picture. I think I will place brass platters of masala pappad on centrally located and easily accessible tables.

Small triangles of crispy roasted pappads topped with a zingy mixture of diced onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, green chillies and coriander with a pinch of salt, pepper and chat masala – yum! (Note to self: remember to deseed the tomatoes and cucumbers – there is nothing worse than mushy papad! 

Condiments: As an accompaniment to the masala pappads, I shall warm up some of Kitchens Of India’s Mango Jeera Chutney as well as Tamarind & amp;Date Chutney and place them in brass bowls. The tangy chutneys will go quite well with the crunchy masala pappads. Of course, I shall also stack individual plates and napkins near the platters and bowls, no one wants double dippers!

Main Course: Moving on, the star attraction of the party (apart from me, of course :P) would be the aromatic biryani. I am going to stick with the vegetarian version this time and with Kitchens Of India’s Vegetable Biryani Mix I cannot go wrong! All I need to do is add basmati rice and fresh vegetables to conjure up a delectable vegetable biryani. 

Side-dishes: For the non-vegetarians I choose Kitchens Of India’s spicy Mutton Kolhapuri masala mix and the flavourful Murgh Methi. As for the vegetarians I think I shall go with creamy Mughlai Paneer and the fiery Mirch Ka Salan. Bonus? I don’t even have to cook the Mughlai Paneer, Mirch Ka Salan and the Murgh Methi –they come in hygienically sealed packs that are ready to heat and eat! Not to forget, the comforting staple – a raitha to cool down all the flaming taste buds around the room!

Dessert: To round off such a wonderful meal, I will serve some vanilla ice-cream topped with a vibrant syrup of mango and saffron. The syrup can be made by melting some of Kitchens Of India’s Mango & Saffron Conserve with a few teaspoons of water on medium heat in a saucepan for a few minutes. 

The Kitchens Of India’s Mango & Saffron Conserve is made with juicy Alphonso mangoes and sweet-smelling Kashmiri saffron for an exotic twist. Once the conserve loosens up to a pouring consistency, just spoon it generously over boring, plain old, vanilla ice cream and kick it up a notch! The contrast between the cold ice-cream and the warm and tingly syrup – Ah! A match made it heaven indeed!

A Memorable Return Gift For The Guests: Once everyone’s appetites are satiated I shall present them with a thoughtful return gift to takeaway from my party. The Kitchens Of India’s gift packs are ideal for this. Each pack contains Jodhpuri Moong Dal Halwa and Awadhi Badam Halwa. Perfect to indulge your sweet tooth! Afterall there is nothing wrong in spreading the joy and sharing the pleasures of Kitchens Of India with my friends and family right!?

I am sure that my weekend gourmet party will be a treat to all the senses! I bet my party is going to be a super-duper hit and that my guests won’t forget it for a long time – thanks to Kitchens Of India! Now I'm off to draw up my guest list! 

Adding A Pinch Of Spice To Our Lives!

Image Source: Show Me The Curry

I have already written about my interest in watching cookery shows here. And I had also mentioned that Show Me The Curry was one of my favourite shows.

So understandably, you can imagine how excited I was to interview the two lovely ladies, Hetal & Anuja of this very show! It felt like a fan getting an opportunity to talk to his/her favourite star! The interview went very well and if you are interested, head over to Women's Web to read about it there.

TGIF #5: Capable Of Doing Many Things Competently Makes Me?

 It seems August is my lucky month! Won 2 competitions – one where I work and one about which I wrote here. Not only that, my blog has won 2 awards too! Isn’t that awesome?! I don’t know if Sunil noticed all my bragging when I won my first blog award but he was brave enough to give me the second one! It is great to know that he thinks I am a versatile blogger! So for this 'Thank God Its Friday Feature', my thanks goes to Sunil – am so flattered :-)

Actually Sunil sent this award my way a few days back but unlike my first award this one entitled me to do some work! So lazy me is putting it up only now ;-)

So for the first part of the award, I am supposed to say 7 facts about me. I have already blabbered a whole lot about me on this blog, but still due to popular demand (hehe!) here goes:

(1) I was born prematurely. I was soooo impatient to stay in my mummy’s tummy that I popped out in 7 months flat. So when I was born it seems that the docs gave me only 50% chance of survival. But I guess I decided that there was no getting rid of me so quickly and managed to hold on with my itty-bitty fingers! I am proud of the fighting spirit that I had ;-)

(2) Continuing from the above point- I still am a very impatient person. I can’t bear to wait, I want everything now! And I fight a lot too!

(3) I hate over-possessiveness in any kind of relationship. I find it stifling and restrictive. Some people seem to think that a person is overly possessive of you because they love and care for you a lot. Sorry, but I disagree. I think that it simply means that they are insecure and have an inferiority complex.

(4) I love to write and sometimes it seems as if I just can’t stop writing. Ideas and words keep flowing non-stop that I don’t even have the time to jot everything down. And yet at times, I can think of absolutely nothing to write about. In fact that is why I even wrote about nothing here.

(5) I cook quite well (if I may say so) and I find it mildly annoying that many people are quite surprised about this. I can’t see why people should be surprised about that and I detest lame jokes like “Oh what can you cook well? Hot water?” Seriously? Not funny. Do I look like somebody who can’t cook or what??!

(6) While on the topic of food, my all-time favourite dish is hot and spicy Chicken 65. It sounds totally uncool, I have no idea about its origins and I don’t even know if it is available in other parts of India. In case you want more info, check out this mad video! Laugh but please don’t curse me!

(7) I prefer British English to American English. I try to write in British English but sometimes I muddle up both of them.

Was that some interesting trivia about me? So now moving onto the second part of the award. Although I have been blogging for 3.6 years I joined blogging networks only a couple of months back. So I am relatively new to blog-networking and it looks like most of the people I read have already won gazillion well-deserved awards! So after a lot of research, here are some of the blogs which I feel should be awarded 'The Versatile Blogger' *Drumroll*:

Namrata Mahalingam from Complicated Life. I think her posts are so simply, yet refreshing.
Ashwini from Just The Way I Like: Her posts make me laugh and she is a fellow Chennaite! No no I am not biased-it is just that she writes a lot about things that happen in Chennai and so I can relate so well with it!
Arpitha from Me-ing: I love her "don't give a damn!" attitude. One spunky gal!

I am still discovering more and more interesting blogs and surely this list will keep growing. I also notice that my list has only women. Well, I just can't help it! I like reading women's blogs, sorry guys! So for now, this is it and I hope that all you 3 lovely ladies will accept this award and keep the tradition going :-)

Julie & Julia

If you’ve been reading my blog, then you would probably have read about how crazy I am about books here. But the problem with having started reading way too many books, way too early is that I often find that either I've forgotten half of what I've read or muddle up one book with another. Added to that, now with so many books being converted into celluloid, it gets even more confusing. You see, when I read a book, I almost always have the story running in my head. And then I go watch the movie. So at the end of day, I have 3 stories albeit with slight variations – one that I've read, one that I've seen and one that I've imagined! You can understand then, that sometimes I simply cannot recollect if some incident actually happened in the book or in the movie or simply happened only in my imagination. Does anyone else have this problem, or should I fix an appointment with a psychiatrist asap?

Anyway, this has made me come to a conclusion, that maybe I should start writing down my perceptions of books that I read. It would probably help me remember what I read and what I didn’t and also if someone is looking to read those books, they could check it out quickly here. Please do keep in mind that the books I write about here are not always going to be new publications. But maybe one day, one book at a time, my blog too could become as awesome as this one :-)

BTW in case anyone is really interested in reviewing books, you can check out Blogadda and Women's Web. Both give out free review copies to good and deserving reviewers but you should be based out of India. (Which is where I am losing out :-()

So here we go! The very first book review on Abstract Admissions. (Since I've already rambled on quite a bit, I'll keep it short this time!)

Book: Julie & Julia
Author: Julie Powell


This must be one of the very rare books that I’ve read after watching the movie first. Obviously I thought that the movie was charming, after all I love Meryl Streep as I’ve mentioned earlier. Although I am addicted to watching cooking videos l must confess that I have never seen any of Julia Child’s shows-although she does seem to be pretty enigmatic.

Julie & Julia is in a way, every blogger’s dream come true. I mean there you are, stuck in a monotonous job , when you decide to start a blog while eating scrumptious French food almost always cooked one way or the other in butter, only to find that gradually the blog becomes a super-hit and the next thing you know, it has been turned into a book and a movie to boot. Now you can kick that boring old job goodbye and become a freelance writer/food critique or whatever else you fancy! Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?!

The premise of this book then, is pretty straight forward. Julie gets the idea that she should complete all the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s magnum opus, Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, within 365 days, no matter how daunting they recipes seem to be. In Barney Stinson style, she goes “challenge accepted” and starts off, in her own words, “risking her marriage, her job and her sanity to master the art of living”.

Although at times, Julie turns philosophical, drawing parallels between her chosen mission and her life, she doesn’t get preachy on you. She comes across as a normal, girl next door, with pretty mundane problems that are to be expected in the life of any urban woman in her late twenties, trying to figure out a purpose behind her routine life. The sarcastic and sometimes irreverent humour of the author made me smile a lot. The story, itself is of course, quite different from other such books and I know that it has spurred many young women to take up similar challenges. (One such being here). But I do think that it is more of a feminine book and I doubt if many men will enjoy reading it(case in point, my husband fell asleep halfway through the movie and refuses to read the book. Oh well, you win some you lose some ;-)).

On the whole, Julie & Julia is written in a breezy kind of way and I would classify it as a light and enjoyable read, perfect for relaxing while sipping on some aromatic cardamom tea.

Have you read Julie & Julia or watched the movie? Let me know what you think!