Green sauce pasta

Spinach-tomato based creamy-veggie "Green Sauce Pasta" (without cheese)

This recipe is contributed by Stuti of Me and My Suitcase.

Recipe for 4 to 5 people

Ingredients:

Pasta (I used elbow) - 500 g

Spinach - 10 big leaves

Tomato - 3 medium

Onion - 2 small

Garlic - 10 cloves 

Ginger - 1 small piece

Chillies - 2 to 3 (depending upon spicy factor you want)

Capsicum - 1 large

Beans - cut in small pieces - 1 cup

Maggie masala - 1 sachet (optional) -> you can make your own masala using oregano, chili flakes, black pepper and salt

Butter/ghee - 2tbsp (I usually use butter and prefer homemade, white butter)

Oregano - 4 tsp

Mayo sauce (optional)

Fine floor - 2 tbsp

Milk - 500 ml

Salt to taste

Cheese (optional - I did not use)

More vegetable, herb and fungi options:

Cauliflower/Broccoli, Corn, Mushroom, jalapeño, paprika.

Let's prepare...

1. Spinach around 10 leaves, half of small onion, 3 Tomatoes, 2 chillies, 5 garlic cloves, half of small Ginger piece, 1 Maggie masala sachet, a little salt. This goes in the cooker. Add 100ml water, close the lid and cook at high flame till it whistles, then at simmer for 2 min. Now, let it cool.

2. Parallelly, in mixer jar 2 tbsp maida, add little milk, mix. Pour in a separate container.

3. Now grind the cooked vegetables from step 1 in to paste in the mixer grinder. Add oregano. Add plain mayo herb or oregano based mayo in the grinder while mixing which is optional.

4. Separately, cut remaining of the onion and capsicum into thin slices. Keep other cut veggies ready as mentioned in ingredients.

5. Take kadhai/wok, add butter/ghee. Once it is hot, using scraper, scrap and add "remaining garlic cloves and Ginger", you can also mince these two ingredients. Sauté for a minute, then add sliced onion and saute for 2 more minutes.

6. Then add the remaining vegetables and let them cook for 2 min. Now, add the vegetable paste from step 3 to the kadhai. Let it cook for 2 to 3 min. Keep the flame in medium and keep sautéing in between.

6. Now add milk from step 2 to it. Add remaining milk so that pasta can cook/boil in it. Let the mixture come to boil before adding pasta to it.

(You can separately boil pasta in brine and then can add to the kadhai or boil in kadhai itself as mentioned in step 6).

7. Let it cook. You can close the lid but keep churning in between to avoid getting the pasta stick to the kadhai bottom. Add salt to taste but remember to add enough keeping in mind that you had added some during step 1 as well.

8. After 10 to 15 min, depending upon kinda of pasta (The cooking time of pasta is usually mentioned at the back of the packet. If you book pasta separately before adding to the veggies and sauce, then cook pasta al dente).

9. Voilà, your pasta is ready. Sprinkle oregano and chilli flakes on top and serve hot.

Hope you like it and try your own variations as well. 

** Be noted, it's completely healthy. Only 2 tbsp fine flour is used to give thickness to the sauce, to avoid using cheese. Remaining thickness comes from boiling of pasta. Save the water if you are boiling pasta separately.