ABC pasta is light, funky and playful and my daughters favourite. Eat while you learn is my favorite statement:) . Here is a simple way to prepare this pasta and then watch your kids face light up !!!
I am a very private person when it comes to my family and i usually don’t share details on social media. This privacy also means that people on Instagram or Facebook get to see a lot of travel pics or just food / bake related pics.
Today i am going to introduce my daughter to you all, a chirpy, naughty and very perceptive 5 year old. She is my one true love and she is my partner in my cooking experiments. A true foodie with a very very sweet tooth. A pasta lover, she started eating pasta at the age of 2 years and still loves it.
We bought this ABC Pasta packet during our vacation abroad and one fine Sunday couple of weeks back we made it for lunch. We had so much fun, initially we arranged the letters for A – Z (i think we didn’t find some of them), then tried to make words out of them and then we made a warm pasta dish out of it.
Making of ABC Pasta
To make this ABC pasta, we divided our responsibilities 🙂 . She filled the water for boiling the pasta, i boiled it. She washed the vegetables, i cut them finely. She ate some butter, I cooked with it. That Sunday the kitchen was filled with a laughter and mess, such a awesome time. I thank God for every thing and all the time and happiness ( i might sound philosophical but one must always count their blessings).
She very carefully arranged the letters in the middle with a little help from me
We picked vegetables of different colours and the end product – pasta looked like a rainbow with red, green, yellow colours.
A little note form this mommy to all other mommies, take out time from your busy schedule and spend with your kid…these are small pleasures of life 🙂
Boil water and cook the paste till al dente. Was the pasta in cold water o stop overcooking of the pasta. Coat the pasta with some oil so that they do not get sticky and set aside
Heat oil in a vessel and add garlic to it and saute on low flame
Cook all the vegetables in with the garlic (season as required)
Add the seasoning to the vegetables and mix well
Add the pasta and toss it nicely ( add some oil if required)
Crumb pasta with roasted vegetables and seeds, a simple and family friendly pasta to have on a relaxed weekend. It has the goodness of vegetables like zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, red bell peppers and my little twist of roasted seeds.
We as a family love pasta and are always looking at interesting recipes to try out. During one of my searches, i landed on Donna Hay’s page and there i saw crumb pasta video. The recipe was interesting, very new to me and very simple to make.
I knew i had to make it and gave my own twist to it. I added some roasted veggies and some roasted seeds and voila a very yummy pasta recipe.
What do you need to make the Crumb pasta with roasted vegetables
Pasta of your choice: Since this pasta is a little dry and needs to hold shape – Penne, spaghetti, farfelle or elbow would be a good choice for this recipe.
Vegetables : I have used zucchini, tomatoes, red bell peppers and mushroom. One could also use mushrooms, eggplant, yellow bell peppers or even jalapenos.
Seeds: This is completely optional, one can also use nuts such as almonds or walnuts. The seeds give a nice crunch to this recipe. Every mouthful has an explosion of flavour.
The main ingredient which brings together this entire recipe is bread crumbs. You can buy panko crumbs or any other brand from the market or make one yourself. The breadcrumbs with a lovely basil give this crumb pasta with roasted vegetables an oomph that needs to be tasted right away.
This crumb pasta with roasted vegetables tastes good as a warm dish as well as a cold salad. Oh by the way, another cool thing that i tried later was to add some ketchup and put the pasta on some toast, you wouldn’t believe how yumm that turned out 🙂
For other recipes similar to Crumb pasta with roasted vegetables and seeds – visit my other pages to get recipes using similar ingredients:
On a baking tray, scatter all the vegetables and drizzle some oil on top of it.
Add some salt and pepper and mix them all
In a preheated oven @ 200 deg C, roast the vegetables for 15 - 20 minutes or till the vegetables get a nice brown colour on them ( keep a watch, i have charred some veggies in my life)
Meanwhile boil the pasta al dente and set aside
Once the veggies are roasted, remove from the oven and set it to aside
In the same tray, after removing the veggies, scatter the seeds and roasted them for 5-7 minutes.
Heat some butter or oil in a pan and add the bread crumbs. Toss till they get a nice dry texture and gets a nutty smell
Add the oregano, chopped basil, salt and chilli flakes and mix well. Once this is done, remove and set aside in a bowl to cool
To assemble : add pasta to a bowl,then the roasted vegetables, seeds and then sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of pasta
Mix well, adjust salt and pepper according to taste
One leg in train or flight and one leg at home..yes that’s what best denotes my small family of 3 (myself, hubby and my almost 5 year old daughter), so when my cousin suggested Sri Lanka road trip with his family..well how could we say NO..a little bit of sightseeing, a whole lot of eating, spending time with kids was what we did during our road trip in Sri Lanka.
Roads of Sri Lanka
Why Sri Lanka??
It is raining everywhere in India in the month of July and lets face it two kids, shut in a hotel room is not great..so we decided to look at destination close to India and where obtaining visa would not be a major job and all this keeping in mind that we have to be in budget. Sri Lanka turned out to be the best bet..why you might ask? well for starters, the flight tickets were not expensive ( INR 10,000 per person – to and fro) and the most important part, the weather in Sri Lanka !!! This time of the year the east coast was dry with no rainfall but having cloudy days with lots of breeze…perfect.
The Journey for our Road trip in Sri Lanka
Using local transport of buses or trains would have been the cheaper mode of transportation but having our own vehicle gave us the flexibility to stop for fresh Litchis, taste local cuisine and drink lots of hot tea (very important :))
Sri Lanka Map : Image courtesy http://younghoteliers.blogspot.com/
The mission – Road trip in Sri Lanka with family
Nos of km to cover – almost 265 km (One way)
Nos of passengers – 4 adults and 2 small kids with one very nice local driver (Piyal)
Nos of hours to cover the distance – 5 hours ( as google map showed us without any breaks…that did not happen 🙂 )
Food items carried – Homemade theplas, some biscuits and apples.
We landed in Sri Lanka late in the night and spent the night at Airport Tourist Hostel, a small family run home stay with very basic but clean facilities. After a good night’s sleep and really good breakfast (eggs, really soft bread, rice and dhal). We 4 adults and 2 kids set out in a van ( 8 seater) on our road trip in Sri lanka.
We started around 9 Am from Negambo (am really grateful that the weather cooperated), decided to reach Pasikuda via Dambulla. The places looked so similar to India, small towns followed by green paddy fields and that was followed by some more small towns..Through out the journey we saw locals selling a variety of fruits and vegetables, fresh Litchis, coconuts, dragon fruits, small round water melons etc etc… they were so fresh and beautiful. We bought Litchis from one of the vendors and oh my…they were red and so sweet. I knew from our previous trip here, that Sri Lanka does not have the big 4 -5 lane highways…but the roads that they do have were fantastic, people in general followed the traffic rules and rarely honked.
Small little restaurant served us delicious spring rolls
Around 11 am we stopped at this small restaurant for tea and some snacks. Though they did not have any local dish available, we had a really good vegetable spring roll and the lightest rice crackles..This day also marked the start of our hunt for a good chai / tea ( we couldn’t get a kadak cup of tea ).
On top pf the mountain – Dambulla Cave Temple
After travelling for a couple of hours we reached Dambulla caves, a world heritage site, depicting the life of Buddha using paintings and sculpture. To reach the temple on top, one can use the steps or the paved slope road..since the weather was very nice with lots of breeze we decided to use the steps.
Dambulla Cave Temple
The Dambulla cave monastery is still functional and is a place of worship hence everyone has to adhere to the local dress code, which means shoulders and knees always need to be covered. Once inside, one gets to see the various sculptures and paintings of Buddha. The rooms are dimly lit and you get to see the flower offering that people have placed.
Excellent vegetarian Sinhalese buffet food at Sakura
Once we came down, our driver took us to Sakura Restaurant, which served the most delicious and fresh spread of vegetarian sinhalese food. The staff was very friendly and explained to us in detail about the ingredients used in our meal. Sakura is situated on the main road but amidst paddy fields..good food with a view..what else would we want.
The food served was simple yet delicious and costed us only Rs 900 (Srilankan Rs) per person. The best part of the feast was the desert, vanilla flavoured curd served with coconut treacle…oh yummm…i still remember the flavour.
Thankfully we did not have any more stops on the way and managed to reached Amethyst Resort by 5.30 pm. Even before we could finish check in formalities the kids were at the beach. The resort is on a very peaceful stretch of beach…a perfect place to unwind after a long tiring day.
Play time for mami and kids, Image courtesy my hubby : http://maheshdevarajan.blogspot.com/
The next two days was all about water and food. If we were not snorkeling, or playing in the swimming pool..we were out to have more delicious food.
Lone boat at Sea, Image courtesy my hubby : http://maheshdevarajan.blogspot.com/Menu card at Amritham
It was during one of these trips outside the resort that we came across Amritham (a women run organisation), where the food served is simple, tasty and cheap. The really sweet ladies prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner at the this place.
The ladies at Amritham showing the kids how string hoppers are made
We tried their, sinhalese limited meals for lunch, string hoppers, aapam and stew for dinner. On the last day, my brother and myself also attempted scuba diving to a ship wreck …oh what an experience that was..amazing is the only term that i can use.
The elephants at Minneriya, Image courtesy my hubby : http://maheshdevarajan.blogspot.com/
From Pasikuda, we stared back towards Colombo and halted at the Gunners Club in Mineriya. At Minneriya we got to see one of the largest gathering of Asian elephants. What a sight it was, a lone tusker, multiple calf’s and a whole bunch of smaller elephants just kidding around. The kids enjoyed the national park thoroughly.
One of the memorable moments of this road trip in Sri Lanka was to visit a vegetable garden of one of the locals who also had a small restaurant. Te vegetable garden had chillies, rampe ( almost like a Sinhalese variant of bay leaf or lemon grass), ambarella, billing ( a sour fruit like our own gooseberry) and kohilan….such interesting ingredients..
The return back to the airport was all about shopping souvenirs and some local ingredients..we picked up tea, cinnamon and fridge magnets to take home.
The journey of 5 hours was all about music and family..while listening to A.R. Rehman and Illayaraja songs, chitchatting, cracking jokes, we bid adieu to this beautiful country and the green pastures…we will be back soon !!!
Hello, fellow bakers, moms and dads. Today I want to share a really simple, step by step recipe. Here are instructions on how to make Home made healthy whole wheat and oats burger buns. These are soft and a little dense but wonderful to make burgers for a party or a trip.
I love breads and that is quite evident with me baking breads for us and for friends through out the week. Generally I just use all-purpose flour or maida for breads. Of late I am trying my hand at replacing maida with other flours such as rye, ragi, whole wheat and oats.
Different flours result in different texture and a very different taste. Experimentation will mean multiple recipes and that means lots of permutations and combination of ingredients. This just opens the doors to so many recipes ! (Phew that was a long sentence :D)
This is a recipe I made for friends and this was also my first use of 100% whole wheat and oats as a combination to make burger buns. I am yet to get them soft like buns made with maida but this is definitely a step in the right direction.
So here is my step towards healthy baking: Home made healthy whole wheat and oats burger buns !
Set aside all the other ingredients in individual bowls before starting.
In a large mixing bowl, add the yeast, sugar, flours, eggs, salt and warm milk and start kneading ( alternatively one can add all the ingredients to a stand mixer, attach the dough hook and start kneading)
Knead the dough just till all the ingredients come together (Over kneading increases the gluten in the dough and the buns become dense after baking)
Grease another large mixing bowl with little oil and lay the dough into that.
Cover the dough with cling film or a plate and let it rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour ( or till the dough doubles in size).
Remove the plate / cling film, punch down the dough and knead a little a bit.
Portion out the dough into small balls and set aside ( i weighed each ball to approximately 70 - 75 gms)
Grease a baking tray and set aside.
Tighten by rolling each ball between your palms and tucking the skin / edges to get a smooth skin on top.
Roll all the dough balls and place them slowly on the baking tray ( leave at least 1 inch space between each ball).
Cover with a wet towel or cling film and let it rise for another 30 minutes ( till the dough balls double in size).
While the dough balls are resting pre-heat the oven to 200 degree C.
Once the dough balls rise, remove the cling film, apply egg wash using a brush and sprinkle sesame seeds on them.
Bake the buns in the oven for 15-20 minutes or till it turns golden brown in colour.
Once baked remove the buns and set aside for 5 minutes ( always wear mittens while removing anything hot from the oven). Apply butter on top of the buns while they are hot.
Remove the buns from the tray and set aside on a wire mesh to cool.( cover them with a dry towel so that the top does not dry out)
Cheesecake…hmmm…when you think about this desert….what do you remember…the rich and soft cheese, the biscuity layer at the bottom and most of all a melt in your mouth desert.
Well this is an interesting and healthy take on the traditional cheese cake…sinfully delicious and yet very healthy
Pour the thick curd in a thin muslin / cotton cloth, tie the cloth and allow excess water to drain from the curd into a vessel (overnight)
In a bowl, add the melted butter and crushed biscuits and mix them well.
3) Take a 9 inch pie tin with removable base and line the base with the biscuit mixture.
5) Leave the pie tin inside the fridge for atleast 30 mins.
6) In another bowl, mix the hung curd ( drained curd), sugar and whipped cream and set aside ( If required, one can add honey to increase sweetness).
7) Mix the gelatin and water and heat the mixture till gelatin dissolves in the water.
8) Once the gelatin mixture is cooled, add to the yogurt mixture and mix well.
9) Pour the yogurt and gelatin mixture to the biscuit lined pie tin.
10) Keep the pie tin inside the fridge for atleast 4 hours or till the yogurt mixture sets.
11) Once the yogurt mix sets, pop the base out from the sides and slice the cheese cake.
12) Serve with fresh fruits
Take a 9 inch pie tin with removable base and line the base with the biscuit mixture.
Leave the pie tin inside the fridge for atleast 30 mins.
In another bowl, mix the hung curd ( drained curd), sugar and whipped cream and set aside ( If required, one can add honey to increase sweetness).
Mix the gelatin and water and heat the mixture till gelatin dissolves in the water.
Once the gelatin mixture is cooled, add to the yogurt mixture and mix well.
Pour the yogurt and gelatin mixture to the biscuit lined pie tin.
Keep the pie tin inside the fridge for atleast 4 hours or till the yogurt mixture sets.
Once the yogurt mix sets, pop the base out from the sides and slice the cheese cake.
Its sunday night and i wanted to eat something nice for dinner…which means no south indian or north indian or pasta or pizza…you can see where i am going right… ultimately I decide to make soup, with some bread and sauteed veggies…soup with roasted tomatoes & red bell pepper, sauteed mushrooms & zucchini and muesli bread
Ah…….. at last I have been able to take time out of my busy office schedule and write a post… this was a veryy simple soup that i made some time back..it is also called the Classic Russian Borscht… I have made the vegetarian version on this soup…here goes
The day that i heard of Mango madness, i knew i had to make the lovely crepes and post it….the king of all fruits was an obvious choice as a stuffing for the crepes
Print Recipe
WBB#22 May Mango madness - Mango crepes
Servings
Ingredients
1NosMangoesSkin peeled and chopped into small pieces
Mix the maida, eggs, salt, sugar, water, melted butter and milk to form a nice batter.
To make the stuffing, heat a little butter (1 tsp), add 1 tsp sugar and add the fruits and let the sugar-butter liquid quote the fruits. mix it once and set aside....
Take a non stick tawa, coat the tawa with little butter and pour the batter on the tawa with a ladle.
Smear it to make a thin dosa out of it...
Cook on one side and then flip it to cook on both sides....
Stuff the fruits and present it warm or cold to one and all...
