Farfalle Pasta With Pesto Alfredo Sauce#Improv

Can I tell you how I am so happy that my plants are thriving, I have many herbed plants in balcony garden, basil, tomato, oregano, thyme, celery, mint, peppermint, kafir, lemongrass, curry leaves, betel leaf, colocasio / taro, ginger, wild garlic, turmeric, bitter gourd and many others. My baisl plant it thriving , so much that it has started to flower. So I trimmed it and made again this Pesto, all the flowers I have made basil flower oil. I made more than a cup of pesto.

Today I, made this wonderful flourless Farfalle Pasta Alfredo Pesto Sauce, its was so delicious, finger licking.

Serves 2
Ingredients
2 Cups Farfalle Pasta
2 Tablespoons Salted Butter
¾ Cup Milk
¾ Cup Fresh Cream
2 Cubes Cheddar Cheese
¾ Cup Basil Pesto With Almonds & Walnuts
1 Green Chilly Paste
2 Large Tomatoes - seeded and diced

Method
Cook the pasta until al dente and drain.

While the pasta cooks, in a large pan add the butter, cream and milk, green chilly paste and pesto , mix this well. Cook this over medium low heat till it comes to a rolling boil, stirring continuously, now grate one cube of cheddar cheese and add to the mix.   

When it starts to just thicken add the pasta and diced tomatoes, give it a good mix and cook till the pasta is just heated. Remove from heat and serve this hot with grated cheese. This pasta dish is saucy, tasty and super delicious.

Enjoy!!
Labels: Flourless, Pesto Sauce, Basil, Pasta, Pasta & Noodles, Homemade, Cream, Cheddar Cheese, Improv Cooking Challenge, International Cuisine, Vegetarian, Jain food

For Improv Cooking Challenge the theme this month is "Pasta & Greens".  

• Sneha’s Recipe : Farfalle Pasta With Pesto Alfredo Sauce 
• Magical Ingredients : Paneer and Spinach Stuffed Shells With Malai 
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Pesto Orzo with Broccoli
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Spinach Pesto Pasta with Shrimp

Keto Fried Beef Steak #SundayFunday

These Keto Fried Beef Steaks are so delicious and yum. They are low crab, quick to make. Half I fried in egg batter and the other half with egg batter, both methods taste delicious. So you can use egg to dip or completely skip this step.

Makes 16 - 18
Serves 6
Ingredients
1/2 Kg Beef (Undercut) - cut into slices
6 - 8 flakes garlic
2 Inch Piece of Ginger
30 Mint Leaves
1/2 Cup Coriander leaves
1/2 Teaspoon Garam masala powder
1 Scallion - Chopped
1 Sour Lime
Salt to taste
Coconut oil as required for frying
2 Eggs  - lightly beaten  

Method

Wash and cut the meat into slices abut 1 inch thick. Lightly beat each slice with a meat mallet to flatten them lightly.
Grind the garlic, ginger, mint, coriander leaves, scallions to fine paste ( do not add water to grind). Mix in the lime juice and salt to the paste. Apply this paste to the meat slices and marinate it in the refrigerator or an hour. 

Dip each slice in egg. Shallow fry them till golden brown. Serve these as sides to a main course meal or as starters. 

Enjoy hot with chutney or spicy tomato sauce.

Labels: Steaks, Pan Fried, Appetizer, Keto, Sunday Funday, Main course, Beef

For Sunday Funday our theme is "Steakhouse Recipes". 

• Palatable Pastime: Chopped Steak with Longhorn Steakhouse Seasoning 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Grilled New York Strip Steaks with Herb Compound Butter 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Keto Fried Beef Steaks 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Shallots and Rosemary 
• Food Lust People Love: Ruth’s Creamed Spinach 
• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Steakhouse Garlic Butter  

Mango & Cucumber Salad#Foodieextravaganza

This Mango Cucumber Salad, it’s sweet and crunchy, with a hint of spice, light and refreshing. Mango is a sweet tropical summer fruit can now be part of your dinner too!
.
Serves 4
Ingredients  

2 Firm & Ripe Mangoes diced
1 Large Cucumber diced
1 Medium Onion - diced
1 Medium Capsicum/ Green pepper - diced
1 Tablespoon Lime Jucie
1 Teaspoon White Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Red Chilly Powder

Method  

Combine mangoes, cucumber, red onion, and green pepper in a large bowl. Add the lime juice, to the the salad. Add vinegar and red chilly powder. Toss to combine. Serve it in a bowl with a sprinkle of chilly powder. Refrigerate and allow to marinate for an hour before serving. 

Enjoy this chilled salad!!

My Notes
Be sure mangoes are ripe. They will be soft to the touch and fragrant.  
Labels: Foodie Extravaganza Party, Mango, Cucumber, Salad, Healthy

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of the month.  

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Chicken and Cashew Salad with Ginger Dressing  
• Sneha's Recipe: Mango & Cucumber Salad
• Pandemonium Noshery: Summer Corn and Pickled Onion Salad
• Magical Ingredients: Vegan Gochugaru Jicama Coleslaw 
• Food Lust People Love: Watermelon Cucumber Feta Salad 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories:  White Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad  

Vegetable Quinoa Upma#SundayFunday

Vegetable Quinoa Upma is a very healthy, simple and wholesome dish made with a super nutritious grain and veggies. Quinoa upma is easy to dish out on busy mornings as breakfast or as lunchbox recipe. Quinoa is one of the healthiest wonder grains that has a good amount of fiber and folic acid and other vitamins too.  

Serve it along with chutney or pickle with a cup of chai and you have a complete and healthy breakfast. Vegan and gluten-free! This simple upma demands basic ingredients that we regularly use in rawa upma.

My tip is that make sure to rinse the quinoa under cold water for 2 to three time to remove the natural coating, called saponin to avoid any bitterness before making recipe.

Serves 2 -3
Ingredients

1 Cup Quinoa
1¼ Cup Water
1 Small Onion - finely chopped
1 Green chilly - finely chopped
½ Teaspoon Ginger - finely chopped
1 Small Carrot- chopped
2 Beans - chopped
¼ Cup Green Peas
½ Teaspoon Mustard seeds
1 Teaspoon Urad dal
A Sprig Curry leaves 
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Method 
Wash quinoa in water and keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dal when it turns golden brown add curry leaves, onion, green chilly and ginger. Sauté well. When onions are translucent add the chopped veggies and green peas. Sauté well so that the veggies are little roasted. Now add water and salt to veggies. Mix well.

Bring this to a rolling add washed quinoa and mix well. Cover and cook in medium low flame. It took around 20 minutes for the upma to get cooked in medium low flame.
So when quinoa and veggies look cooked (when quinoa has a small white tail it means quinoa is cooked) put off the flame and serve it hot garnished with coriander leaves.

Enjoy this with chutney or pickle and cup of hot chai! 

Labels: Quinoa, Upma, Breakfast, Brunch, Vegan, Gluten free, Healthy, Mixed Vegetable, Sunday Funday

For Sunday Funday our theme is "Quinoa Recipes". 

• Quinoa Chia Multiseed Bread from Cook with Renu
• Rustic Multigrain Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Mediterranean Quinoa Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Vegetable Quinoa Upma from Sneha’s Recipe
• Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Copycat Trader Joe’s Lemon Chicken and Arugula Salad fromPalatable Pastime
• Quinoa Tangerine Salad from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Rainbow Quinoa Grain Bowl from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Murukulu Janthikalu#SundayFunday

Murukulu also known as Janthikulu is a savory snack of the Andhra cuisine. This Murukku is a mixture of urad dal flour and rice flour. Its easy to make and a addictive snack. We love the crispness and the buttery taste of this snack.

An ideal festival savory snack, these are vegan & gluten free, prefect for kid's tiffin. They stay crisp and fresh in your pantry shelf for a month or more if stored in an airtight container.

1 Cup Measurement = 200 Ml
Ingredients
4 Cups Rice Flour
1 Cup Urad Dal flour
2 Tablespoons White Butter or any
1 Cup Warm Water or as required
1 Teaspoon Salt or to taste
1 Teaspoon Red Chilly powder - optional
1 Teaspoon Each White & Black Sesame seeds
Oil for deep frying

Method
Take a pan dry roast urad dal flour lightly for a few minutes. See that it does not change color or burn. Keep aside to cool.

In a bowl add flours, sesame seeds, salt, butter, mix well till it represents bread crumbs. 

Then add warm water little by little as need to make a soft dough.

Take the murukulu press ( a disk with three holes)
add the dough into it and press on top into hot oil a make a 

Or this one, make a round murukku. 

Fry till light golden brown on medium flame, then remove. Keep it on an absorbent paper to remove the excess oil. When cooled store in an airtight container. 

This is a snack that can be made any time for children to have in the evening or to take as tiffin. My daughter use to take this as her tiffin to school.  

My Notes 

Grind 1 kg rice and 1/4 kg lightly roasted urad dal. Grind it in the flour mill. Make these any time in a jiffy.

Use white butter (this is homemade butter, which is used to make desi ghee) , it give a nice taste and make the murukulu more crispy.

You can add ajwain or coarsely ground cumin seeds.

Labels: Indian, Savory Snacks, Festival Sweets, Deep Fried, Rice flour, Urad Dal flour, Andhra Pradesh, Chakli, Murukulu, Vegan, Gluten free, Sunday Funday

For Sunday Funday our theme is "Picnic Recipes"     

• Bacon Broccoli Mac from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Cucumber Mozzarella Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Spicy Avocado Mango Bean Salad from Cook with Renu
• Mango Pico De Gallo from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Cowboy Beans from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Murukulu Janthikalu from Sneha’s Recipe
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla