Simple Pasta

Western dishes are so popular now that they have become part of our local cuisine. Eateries and restaurants are offering authentic pasta fare to their customers. On the personal front, I find pasta to be quite handy, especially when I get bored with the routine menu. Cooking a pasta dish need not be elaborate, with preparation of one sauce or the other. Here’s a simple dry pasta recipe that is tasty and filling. You can make this recipe for a weekend lunch and serve it with cutlets and a salad. Let's see how to make this simple pasta.

Ingredients: (Serves three)

Penne pasta – 2 teacups or 400ml measure

Mixed vegetables* – 2 teacups or 400ml measure

Onions – 1 no, sliced

Garlic – 4 pods

Basil – 1 teaspoon

Oregano – 1 teaspoon

Red chili flakes – 1-1½ tablespoon (adjust to taste)

Salt – to taste

Olive oil – 3 tablespoons

Roasted peanuts – 2 tablespoons

*You may use potato, carrot, French beans, cauliflower, capsicum and green peas in desired combinations.

 

Simple Pasta

Method: Boil 4 teacups (800ml) of water in a wide mouthed vessel. Add penne pasta and required salt to the boiling water. Continue to cook on medium flame till the pasta is cooked al dente (cooked, but firm to bite). Drain the hot water and run the pasta through cold water. Drain, toss with 2 teaspoons of cooking oil and keep aside.

Cut the vegetables into small cubes; separate cauliflower florets; and shell the green peas. Wash the cut vegetables in running water and drain completely through a colander. Slice the onions and keep aside. Coarsely grind the roasted peanuts using a mixer-grinder and keep aside.

Heat olive oil in a kadai/wok; add the garlic pods, and fry till they turn brown. Remove the garlic pods from the oil and discard. Add onion slices and sauté till they start to turn light brown in color. Now add the cut vegetables and required salt. DO NOT add water. Cover and cook on low flame till the vegetables are done. Add in red chilli flakes, basil and oregano. Mix well. Add the pasta; mix pasta and vegetables together gently; and simmer for 2 minutes. Switch off the fire and sprinkle groundnut powder on top. Serve hot with cutlets, tomato ketch up and a salad.

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Maavilakku Maavu (மாவிளக்கு மாவு)

Traditionally, a lamp made out of rice flour mixed with jaggery, called ‘maavilakku’ (மாவிளக்கு) is lit on certain auspicious days such as Fridays of Aadi (ஆடி வெள்ளி), the fourth month of Tamil calendar and Thai (தை வெள்ளி), the tenth month of Tamil calendar. In some families, ‘maavilakku’ is lit on Saturdays of Purattasi (புரட்டாசி சனிக்கிழமை), the sixth month of Tamil calendar. Lighting ‘maavilakku’ is a method offering prayers to the Gods. My grandmother used to make ‘maavilakku’ with freshly ground raw rice flour, jaggery and cardamom. 

According to ‘sangam’ (சங்கம்) Tamil literature, foxtail millet (தினை) was used by ancient Tamils and is still used in villages for making ‘maavilakku mavu’ (மாவிளக்கு மாவு). Hence, I thought of making ‘maavilakku’ with foxtail millet flour and it came out well. Let me share the method with you. Foxtail millet flour is now easily available in most grocery stores.

Ingredients:

Foxtail millet flour (தினை மாவு) – ½ tumbler or 100ml measure*

Jaggery – powdered, 3 teaspoons

Honey – 2 tablespoons

Cardamom – 1 no, powdered

Ghee or clarified butter – for lighting the lamp

* Traditionally rice flour is used for making 'maavilakku'. Wash raw rice well with water and dry in the shade for 3-4 hours. Then grind the rice using the mixer-grinder into a fine powder. Pass through a sieve to remove any larger particles. You may use this freshly prepared rice flour instead of foxtail millet flour. Follow the same recipe and replace honey with clarified butter or ghee.

Method: Separate the cardamom seeds and powder them finely. Powder jaggery and keep aside. Mix the foxtail millet flour, jaggery and cardamom powder in a bowl and mix well. Add honey and blend together. Sprinkle little water and knead into firm dough. Shape the dough into a ball (Fig.1)

 

Fig 1: Foxtail millet flour dough shaped into a ball

Flatten the dough ball gently. Make depression in the center and expand it sideways without breaking the contour. Shape it like an oil lamp (Fig.2). 

Fig 2: Foxtail millet flour dough shaped into a lamp

Now place the ‘maavilakku’ on a plate. You may decorate it with kumkum (குங்குமம்) on the sides. Pour 1-2 teaspoons of ghee in the depression and dip a cotton wick (பஞ்சு திரி) in the ghee. Bring the tip of the wick out over the edge of the depression. Light the lamp and offer your prayers (Fig.3).

Fig 3: Maavilakku (மாவிளக்கு) lit using ghee and a cotton wick

Once the ghee is fully used up, put off the flame of the 'maavilakku' or flour lamp, and remove the wick. You may now serve the 'maavilakku maavu' as 'prasad' or as a dessert.

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Girl with Blue Ribbons

Ink, though difficult to manipulate, is a fascinating medium. Indian ink (black) is slightly thicker in consistency and hence, is well suited for dry brush technique. You can build different tones on the support as the ink keeps drying. But, other colored inks are thin and fast drying. Hence, they are very difficult to manipulate, when you use dry brush. However, I found some success while using colored ink in washes. Furthermore, this technique makes the whole process cumbersome. Moreover, the colors are not as fresh or bright as other media.

Nonetheless, I have tried using colored ink successfully with a nib or in washes, especially when I wanted to use just one other color in a monochrome work.  

Girl with Blue Ribbons - Indian ink on paper - 14" x 17"

In this work, after completing the painting of the girl with Indian ink using dry brush technique on textured paper, I had painted the blue ribbons with blue ink in washes. This had made the ribbons stand out against an otherwise monochrome background.

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Auspicious Purchase !

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