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Friday, January 16, 2015

Pasta with Kasundi Sauce (Low-calorie snacking !!)

Pasta and Kasundi ?? Whoever would have thought of such an unlikely pairing !! But let me tell you that it works incredibly well on my Indian taste buds. And even before you ask me why I thought of the combination, let me remind you that I have been looking forward to maintaining a healthier lifestyle from this year. That translates into cutting down of fattening food like cheese. Moreover, it being so cold these days, I wanted something hot and spicy to warm me up.

While I could have gone with a regular Marinara sauce, It felt like too much effort. Moreover, the flavors are heavier as compared to this recipe. Since I already had a bottle of tomato Kasundi (recipe at the bottom of this post) sitting in my fridge, it hardly took any time. The trick is to balance the flavors of the fresh tomatoes and the kasundi so that neither one dominates. And yeah, do not forget the peppers. I used the spicy Guntur variety which I personally prefer as compared to the Jalapenos and Habaneros. We do have a lot of good native varieties of peppers/chillis in India which are just waiting to be discovered. And they turn out to be quite economical as compared to the imported varieties.

Read on for the lip-smacking recipe -







Preparation Time - 15-18 mins

Ingredients -


  • 1 1/2 cup pasta (chifferi rigata)
  • 1 large fresh tomato ( chopped into small pieces )
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 red chili pepper (Guntur variety)
  • 1 tbsp coriander roots (finely chopped)
  • 1 tsp coriander leaves (finely chopped)
  • 1 tsp tomato kasundi (adjust as per preference)
  • 1 tsp vegetable oil
  • salt


Cooking - Heat water in a large saucepan. Once it gets to a boil, add enough salt so that it tastes quite salty (almost like sea water). Throw in the pasta and cook on medium to high flame till al-dente (cooked yet firm). Retain 1 cup of the pasta water and drain the rest.

Dissolve the kasundi in 2 to3 tbsp of pasta water.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the chopped garlic, red chili and coriander roots. Fry till the garlic turns golden. Add the chopped tomatoes and cover with a lid for 30 seconds. Once the tomatoes get a little soft (but still chunky), add the cooked pasta along with the kasundi. Sprinkle some more pasta water if it gets too dry. Cook for 1-2 mins before removing from flame.

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve immediately.





















Note - Click here for the recipe of Tomato Kasundi. Adjust the amount of pepper as per preference. 

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