Pesto Daliya Upma

Yes, I am on a 5 day 'Daliya' challenge this week. And it calls for trying out a new recipe each time that is simple and low on calories. This is a really easy and tasty recipe that I created using some boiled daliya, homemade pesto sauce, lime juice and a bit of tempering.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 20 mins

Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup daliya
• 2 tsp pesto sauce
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1/5 tsp mustard seeds
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 1 dry red chili
• 1/2 tsp oil
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp lime juice

Preparation - Dry roast the daliya or cracked wheat till it gives off a sweet smell.

Cooking - Cook the daliya with 1 cup water and salt in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles. Keep aside till steam escapes. Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the mustard seeds followed by the asafoetida, curry leaves and dry red chili.

Pour this tempering over the cooked daliya. Add pesto sauce and lime juice. Mix well.

Serve immediately.

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. 

Spaghetti Al Pesto

Simple and frugal is sometimes the best. And i feel that in case of all the pasta recipes that I have worked on/tasted, this is the thumb rule. I would never have thought of combining basil with ingredients olive oil, garlic and cheddar cheese I had I not stumbled on this recipe. And was quite skeptical to begin with. Another reason why this post got delayed. The primary was that I could not find a good Parmesan and pine nuts to begin with. But a recent recipe that I caught on the cookery show convinced me that I could use a Cheddar-walnut combination to make this recipe. And that the basil can be partly substituted with baby spinach. But I stuck to the basil bit. And haven't regretted it a bit.

Read on for the delightfully easy recipe (while I ponder what to do with the leftover pesto....BTW it is sitting pretty in my fridge covered with a generous layer of EVOO). But for those with a nut allergy, do try out Nigella's Pasta Alla Genovese -

Preparation Time - 15 mins ( Not a min extra...mind it )

Ingredients -

• 150 gm durum wheat spaghetti
• 1 cup lightly packed Italian basil leaves
• 1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
• 1/3 cup lightly toasted walnuts
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 2 garlic flakes
• 7-8 peppercorns (freshly crushed/ground)
• salt to taste

Preparation - Chop the garlic flakes and basil leaves.

Take all the ingredients (except for lemon juice and EVOO) in a blender and buzz till you break it all into small bits. Add the lemon juice and EVOO in a trickle till it is well incorporated. The pesto is now ready.

(Actually the quatity will be good enough for two times with a little bit leftover for a chicken and pesto sandwich. Make sure you add a layer of EVOO over the pesto when storing it in a airtight container in the fridge. )

Cooking - Boil 9-10 cups water in a saucepan. When bubbles begin to appear, add sufficient amount of salt to the water. Once it gets to a rolling boil, add the spaghetti.

Cook for 12 mins or till al-dente. Remove 2-3 tbsp of the water and add it to the pesto.

Drain the water in a colander, give it a good shake and toss back the spaghetti into the same vessel in which it was cooked. Add the diluted pesto and toss to uniformly cover the spaghetti strands.

Serve immediately or even after sometime. Tastes good even when served cold.

Note - It takes about 2 litres of water and 1 tbsp of salt to cook 200 gm of spaghetti in the right way.