Pasta Pulao

Pasta Pulao is a tasty and aromatic dish perfect for a holiday brunch. This dish is very healthy since it has veggies and spices.

I wake up at 7:30 or 8 when Naveen does not have to go to office since he works from home often. If it's weekend, I will still be sleepy and light headed because of all that heavy and junk eating on Friday night. It will be past midnight by the time we hit the bed every Friday night and the next day is wasted by being lazy and sleepy.(:|

Every weekend when I open my fridge, I find the stocked up Veggies looking at me forlorn, unused and some of them crying for help.  That is when I make up my mind for the dish that I should prepare for brunch. I prepared this Pulao which is filling, amazingly tasty and is a pure indulgence, trust me once on this. I like to experiment on Pasta a lot because it is the tastiest and interesting of all the raw Ingredients. You can just pan fry with butter, salt and pepper and it still tastes amazing. 

Pasta is healthy only if you choose "Whole grain Pasta" since the normal pasta is made of Plain flour/Maida and is harmful for health. The veggies added to pasta dish makes it more colorful and each flavor stands out making the dish more lovable by all age groups. 

You can add all the veggies you want or skip one or two of those I have added. It tastes best when it is hot so serve and eat before it gets cold. If serving for kids, Garnish with some cheese or paneer and they will love it! 

Nutritional Information  (Approx) (per serving)
Energy	200		Calories
Fat	2		%
Carbohydrates	14		%
Dietary Fiber	8		%
Sodium	1		%
Vitamin A	20		%
Vitamin C	25		%
Calcium	0		%
Iron	10		%
Protein	7		Grams
Sugar	2		Grams

Ingredients: For masala
Green chillies	3
Fennel seeds	1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds	1 teaspoon
Garlic cloves	3
Cinnamon	1 small stick
Cloves	2
Cardamom	2
Coriander leaves	1/4 cup

Ingredients
Mixed Vegetables of your choice chopped	1 cup
Onion chopped Bell pepper chopped	1 1
Oil	2 teaspoons
Cumin seeds	1 teaspoon
Lemon juice	1 teaspoon
Salt	to taste
Coriander leaves	to garnish

* Boil all the Veggies except Onion and bell pepper. Cook only till the veggies are only half boiled.

* Gather Green chillies, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, Garlic cloves, Cinnamon, Cloves, cardamom and Coriander leaves in a mixer.

* Grind the masala to a smooth paste.

* Boil a large pot of water with little salt. Add Pasta to the boiling water. Cook the pasta until tender and drain hot water and keep it aside. Make sure the pasta is not overcooked.

* Heat oil in a pot and add cumin seeds. After a minutes, add chopped onion and saute till onion looks transparent.

* Add bell pepper and cooked vegetables and fry for another minute.

* Add the ground masala, salt and lemon juice and mix.

* Add cooked pasta and give it a good mix.

* Cook for 2-3 more minutes and remove from heat. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Stuffed Karela (Bitter gourd) curry

Stuffed Karela curry is a tangy and spicy curry with not one bit of bitterness. This dish is great for rainy days and tastes best with a pot of hot rice. This recipe is a modified version of my mum's recipe. She usually makes only the stuffed karela dish which I modified into a curry. She used to make a karela & Raw mango rasam to go with it. This Rasam is made of very few ingredients but tastes heavenly. I will post the recipe some time this week.

Bitter gourd or karela may be bitter by taste but it is the sweetest vegetable for your health. As usual, I would like to list the health benefits of this miraculous vegetable.

* Bitter gourd juice purifies blood from the toxins and also helps to cure boils and itching on skin due to infections.
* It is a remedy for cholera in it's initial stages.
* Bitter gourd contains a compound that lower the blood sugar levels and hence the perfect vegetable for people with Diabetes. It improves the glucose tolerance without increasing Blood insulin levels.
* It also improves the stamina level of your body if consumed regularly in turn increasing your body's resistance against infections.
* Bitter gourd is also known to cure some respiratory disorders.

Stuffed Karela curry takes only 15 minutes to prepare and it is one of the tastiest Karela dishes you will ever taste. I made only 3 stuffed pieces out of 2 Bitter gourds, to serve Naveen and me [2 for me and 1 for him ;) ]. I used the other half to make Karela and raw mango rasam. You can make as many as you want but make sure to increase the quantity of stuffing accordingly.

Nutritional Information  (Approx) (per serving)
Energy	150		Calories
Fat	7		%
Carbohydrates	9		%
Dietary Fiber	1.8		%
Sodium	9		%
Vitamin A	10		%
Vitamin C	106		%
Calcium	16		%
Iron	8		%
Protein	4.4		Grams
Sugar	2		Grams

Ingredients: for stuffing
[makes 3 stuffing]
Onion	1 small
Red chillies	3
Garlic cloves	3
Cinnamon	1 small stick
Clove	1
Lemon juice	1 teaspoon
Salt	to taste

Ingredients
[makes 3 servings]
Bitter gourd/Karela	2
Lemon juice	to marinate
Salt	to taste
Oil	3 tablespoons (divided)
Onion chopped	1 small
Bell pepper (optional)	1 small
Garam masala powder	1 teaspoon
Sugar	1/2 teaspoon
Water	1 tablespoon

* Clean and cut the sides off the Bitter gourds. Cut them in the middle and take out the pulp and seeds out. Smear salt and lemon juice inside and out and keep them in refrigerator to marinate for 15-20 minutes.
* Meanwhile gather chopped onion, red chillies, garlic cloves, cinnamon stick, clove, lemon juice and salt.
* Grind them into a fine paste.

* Take out the marinated karela and stuff them with the ground paste.
* Heat oil in a frying pan. Shallow fry the stuffed bitter gourds in low flame. Once bitter gourds are fried evenly, transfer them from frying pan to a plate.

* Heat oil in the same frying pan and add chopped onion and bell pepper. Fry till the onion looks transparent.
* Add salt, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and the remaining ground paste. Also add sugar & water and mix well. Once the raw onion smell stops, add the stuffed bitter gourds and give it a mix. Fry for another 2 minutes and remove from flame.
* Serve hot with a pot of white rice.

* You can also add the pulp back to the stuffing if you can stand the bitterness.
* Make sure to check the taste before you add salt to the curry since the stuffed is seasoned well.
* We like the curry dry. Feel free to add more water and few chopped tomatoes to make it watery.
* You can skip bell pepper if you wish,  but the curry tastes better with a few pieces of bell peppers.