Pasta Al Pesto ( Vegan version with Curry leaves )

Pasta laden with humongous amount of cheese may not be the right fit for the sweltering hot Indian summers. Hence I had to come up with a relatively easy cheese free pasta recipe that did not require working in front of the stove for long duration.

I picked up the regular pesto recipe, gave it a very indian twist with curry leaves, roasted red chilis , urad dal, asafoetida and canola oil and ended up with this winner. Yeah, this is a taste recipe with a very tangible South Indian flavour.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 15 mins

Ingredients -

• 1 cup pasta ( I used a mix of different shapes )
• handful of curry leaves
• 2 dry red chili ( I used Byadgi variety that has mild heat)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp urad dal
• 1 tbsp charoli seeds
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tsp lime juice
• pinch of asfoetida

Preparation - Boil water in a large saucepan. Once the bubbles start coming, salt it.

Wait for water to come to a rolling boil before you add the paste. This way they wont stick to each other.

While the paste is cooking, heat the oil in a small skillet. Add the red chili, asafoetida and urad dal. Once the dal turns brown, add the charoli nuts and roast for 30 seconds.

Transfer the contents of the skillet into a grinder jar. Add the washed curry leaves, garlic cloves and salt. Buzz into a coarse meal.

Keep checking on your pasta . Once it gets to the al-dente stage, remove from flame and drain off the pasta water while saving about 1/2 cup of it for thinning the sauce.

Take the pasta in a pasta bowl or wide dish, add the pesto, 2-3 tsp of the past water and the lime juice.

Toss everything together.

Serve immediately.

For more such vegan pasta recipes click here, here, here,, here and here.