White Sauce Vegetable Pasta | Easy Pasta Recipe

White Sauce Vegetable Pasta, an easy to make delicious pasta with a lot of vegetables. White sauce is also known as  bechamel sauce made from butter, flour and milk. It's one of the five mother sauces in western cuisines and the word bechamel is from French which means thick white sauce. 

In our home, both me and ST like coriander pesto pasta and tomato sauce pasta, white sauce pasta is not our favourite but occasionally it's OK. But now, since the kid likes the white sauce pasta and having a little bit without any fuss compared to other foods. So change of scenery in my kitchen, that's why now i'm making white sauce pasta at home ! 

While travelling from India to here, my LO ate only the white sauce pasta that the airline provided out of all the food that i had packed. Ever since, i have been making this white sauce pasta  for him and after eating all the leftovers, i have to admit that indeed it's delicious and i too started to like it. 

Related: More Pasta, Pizza and Sauce Recipes

In today's recipe, i haven't prepared the sauce ahead. Just sprinkled the flour on the cooked veggies and sauteed. By this method, the chances of forming lumps in the sauce is so minimal, so the sauce would be lump free and absolutely smooth. Additionally, the recipe just needs one vessel to cook and clean later :-) 

However this method is not the traditional way of making white sauce pasta but i can assure you that it's super easy to make and finger licking delicious.

Now let's check out on how to make this creamy white sauce pasta. 

White Sauce Vegetable Pasta

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
White sauce pasta, White sauce vegetable pasts, Bechamel sauce pasta White Sauce Vegetable Pasta, an easy to make delicious pasta with a lot of vegetables.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Fusilli Pasta - 1 cup

Onion -1/2

Carrot - 1 

Capsicum - 1 (small)

Mushroom - 1/2 cup(chopped)

Frozen Peas - 1/4 cup

Milk - 2 cups

Olive oil / Butter - 3 tbsp

All purpose flour - 3 tbsp

Cheddar cheese - 1/4 cup

Garlic - 2 cloves

Salt - to taste

Pepper - to taste

Procedure

First cook the pasta as per the package instructions and keep it aside. Cut all the vegetables and keep it ready. Heat a large pan with olive oil.

Next add the crushed garlic. Give a quick stir and when it's aromatic, add the vegetables along with salt(enough for the vegetables) and pepper powder. 

Cook the veggies till they are soft and then add the flour, give a good mix with the vegetables and roast the flour for a min or two in a low flame.

Next add the milk & salt and mix it well. Now increase the heat & stir it continuously, the sauce would be thicken in a couple of mins.

The sauce should coat the back of the ladle well and if you should be able to draw a line with your fingers. That's the perfect consistency of the sauce. Now add the cheese and the cooked pasta.

Give a good mix and let it in the flame for a couple of mins. 

That's it, Delicious veggie loaded white sauce pasta is ready.

Related : How to make Coriander Pesto Sauce

Notes: 

• Serve hot for gooey and creamy pasta. Once it cooled, the sauce thickens. 
• You can use any varieties of pasta for this recipe.
• Red chili flakes can be added for more spiciness.

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Matar Mushroom Masala, a delicious semi dry curry made from mushroom and green peas. It can be served as a side dish for roti varieties and mild pulaos. Fresh green peas are such a versatile produce and it can be used in varieties of dishes like curries, poriyal, kurma, paratha, pasta and so on., the options are really endless here. 

As fresh green peas are in season now, i would like to add a handful of peas in most of my curries and this mushroom matar is one of my favorites and it tastes awesome with rotis/chapati. 

If you haven't tried this combination before, do give it a try. It's such an easy recipe for semi dry curry to make in minutes.

In addition to mushroom and peas, you can use one or more of the following veggies like cauliflower, paneer, butter beans and potatoes and prepare the curry in the same way. I have tried with almost all the veggies that i mentioned before and each one is pretty good on its own.  Now let's move to the recipe.

Mushroom Peas Masala | Matar Mushroom Masala

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Mushroom Peas Masala, Matar Mushroom Masala, Mushroom masala Mushroom peas curry, side dish for roti Matar Mushroom Masala, a delicious semi dry curry made from mushroom and green peas. It can be served as a side dish for roti varieties and mild pulaos.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Mushroom - 10
Fresh Peas - 1/4 
Onion - 1/2 (chopped)
Oil - 2 tsp
Fennel seed - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Kasthuri Methi - 1/2 tsp
Cream - 1 tbsp(optional)
Curry leaves -few
To grind 
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Ginger - 1/4 inch piece
Garlic - 2 cloves
Cashews - 5

Procedure

Add the ingredients listed under "To grind" in a mixie/blender jar and grind into smooth paste. Heat the pan with oil and add the fennel seeds, let it crackle.

Then add the finely chopped onions, curry leaves along with pinch of salt and saute till they are slightly brown and then add the grounded tomato paste

Next add the spices(turmeric, red chili and garam masala powder ) & salt and mix it well. Then add the sliced mushroom and green peas.

Give a good mix and then cover the pan with lid and let the veggies cook.No need to add any water here, the moisture from the mushroom is enough to cook the veggies unless you want more gravy.

Finally crush the kasthuri methi in between the palm and add into the curry along with cream. Give a good mix and switch off the flame. 

Tasty and Delicious Mushroom Peas Masala.Serve it with roti/pulav. We had it with chapati and onion raita. 

Related : How to make Malai Kofta Curry

Notes:

• I have used light 5% cream in this cream.
• Frozen peas can also be used in this curry.
• I have used white mushrooms here, brown mushrooms can also be used.
• For more spice and extra flavor, add a 1/2 tsp of pepper powder in the end. 
• If you're using dried peas, soak them overnight and pressure cook them before using it.
• Instead of fennel seeds, you can use cumin seed also for tempering.
• If you're not using cream at the end, i would suggest adding 1/2 tsp of sugar along with other spices to balance out the taste.

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Mushroom Potstickers, a delicious dumplings with mushroom stuffing instead of the traditional meat stuffing. Dumplings can be boiled, pan fried, steamed or oil fried. Potstickers are actually "steam-fried" dumplings and it has the plus of both steamed and fried dumplings. 

In general, all potstickers are dumplings, but not all dumplings are potstickers, dumplings got various famous based on how it's being cooked. I have been making steamed dumplings for years now. In India and Nepal, the steamed dumplings are also known as momos, they are the most famous street food across the country.

When we were in Bangalore, at least 4 to 5  momos shop in our area within half a kilometer distance. Eating piping hot momos standing at the side of the road straight from the steamer on winter day evening is a pure bliss. Instead of pan fry the dumpling in this recipe, you can steam it as regular momos and have it with some spicy sauce. 

Ok, Now coming to potstickers, i got introduced to this when we were in Houston from BJ's restaurant. Instantly i loved it at once and it became our regular whenever we visited there and later even i had started to make them at home regularly. 

Basically, Chinese cooking needs a lot of prep work but cooking time is very minimal. Right from chopping the veggies thinly &  shaping the dumpling nicely all takes a lot of time unless you have a good vegetable chopper and expert in shaping dumplings.  

For a while , everytime time I make maida poori at home, I reserve some dough to try various dumpling shapes and now I can confidently say that I make decent dumplings.

Related: How to make Chinese Spring roll

While sitting to write this post, I remembered a lovely Chinese couple. Almost a year ago , when we were new in Canada, we shared a house with a elderly Chinese couple for a month before we got our own place. We both didn't know a common language to communicate with each other, still without any problem we communicate with sign language and make each other understand what we're saying. 

It's one of the most interesting experiences in my life. Actually the house belongs to their daughter, through her only, we booked the accommodation and we lived on one floor and her parents lived on another floor and we both shared the kitchen. 

Mostly, the elder man in the house do all the cooking, and don't know whether the men cooking in chinese culture is common or not. Once in a week, the lady of the house shapes the wontons after dinner and freezes them. OMG, she was so fast and literally shaped 100 of wontons in mins. 

I was looking at her in astonishment while preparing our dinner. For a quick dinner and breakfast, they boil a few frozen wontons in the broth and serve along with some boiled egg and stir fry veggies.

Related: How to make flower shape momos

She is one of a kind soul and likes to feed us whatever they cook as like any mother. Whenever their daughter visits the house, through her she gets to know whether we eat pork, beef and all, so that later she can share with us. 

One day she gave me a bowl of chicken soup as she knew through her daughter that we eat chicken and fish. In the soup, other than chicken, it had some other black stuff in it and wondering what it was, so asked her, she kindly took me to the pantry and showed all the ingredients that they used in the soup to make us comfortable and eat!! How wonderful is it, right?? 

Like the saying "One person is enough to change your perspective about something ", they did for us about the Chinese culture.  I have so many good memories from that one month stay, if i had started to write all, this post would have gone too long, so let me stop me here and head over to check the recipe of  mushroom potstickers. 

Related: How to make Chinese Steamed Bun

Mushroom Dumplings | Mushroom Potstickers

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : 8 
Recipe Category: Dumplings | Recipe Cuisine: Asian
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Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
For stuffing
Mushroom(finely chopped) - 2 cup
Carrot(finely chopped) - 1/2 cup
Spring onion - 3 
Garlic - 2 
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt -to taste
Pepper powder - to taste
For outer cover
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Water - as needed 

Procedure

First let's prepare the dough, add flour, salt & oil in a bowl, mix it well.

Then add water and make a stiff dough . Cover it with lid and set it aside for 30 mins.

In the mean time, let's prepare the filling. Chop all the veggies finely and keep it ready. Heat the oil in a pan. 

Add garlic and white part of the green onions and saute till they are aromatic. Next add the carrot & saute it for 2-3 mins. 

Once the carrots are half cooked, add the mushroom & salt and saute.

Mushrooms tend to leave lot of water, cook till all the moisture evaporates and the veggies are cooked, add the soy sauce and mix it well.

Finally add the pepper powder and green parts of spring onion. Mix it well and switch off the flame. Let the stuffing to cool completely.

In the mean time, let's roll the dough, roll the dough into log and cut into eight equal parts and roll them into smooth balls.

Take a dough and roll into thin sheets, do the same for all the dough.

Add around a tbsp of stuffing at the center of a sheet, take the center of the dough from both sides and pinch together.

Now starting from the center, make a small pleat from the front side of the dough and seal it  together with the back side of the dough, do till it reaches the end.

Do the same way on the other side too.

Similarly shape all the dumplings. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the dumplings.

Cook them without disturbing until the bottom of the dumplings are golden brown. Next add water in to the pan till the dumplings are half immersed in the water. 

Cover the dumpling and cook till all the water is absorbed by dumplings and it's well cooked. 
That's it, mushroom dumplings are ready.  Serve it with some spicy sauce.

Related: How to make Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Related: How to make Cauliflower manchurian

Notes:

• Make sure to cut the veggies as fine as possible.
• I have used brown mushroom here, but you can use white mushroom also.
• Soy sauce has already salt in it, so be careful while adding salt.
• Make outer layer as thin as possible for delicious dumplings.
• Serve hot for best taste.
• I like to serve it with some hot sauce and soup for complete meal.
  

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Collection of Pressure Cooker Biryani Recipes

Biryani, the most flavorful and tasty rice recipe which is popular throughout the Indian sub continent. Authentically Biryani is prepared by dum cooking, but in our home, dum cooking is not possible for every day cooking right? So,here come the most sophisticated kitchen gadget "pressure cooker" to make our life so easy.Compare to dum cooking, the pressure cooker biryani are easy to make and also it takes very less time,that makes it ideal for our busy days. Here i have the collection of biryani recipe that you can cook easily in pressure cooker without any compromise in taste !!! Click on the individual picture for the detailed recipe.

Mutton Biryani	Chicken Biryani	Egg Biryani
Nei Soru	Mushroom Biryani	Vegetable Biryani
Chettinad Peas Mushroom Biryani	Thalassery Veg Biryani

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How to Clean and Cut Mushrooms | Cooking Basics

I still remember the first time when i tried the mushrooms at restaurant in chennai and i didn't like it much. The flavor and the texture was so new to me and i was bit hesitate to give a try on any new food back then. Then slowly i had developed the taste for mushroom and started to have it on restaurant. After marriage, when i started to cook on my own, seriously i dont know how to clean the mushrooms since we don't cook mushrooms in our home back then. I have so many questions like the hairy part on back side of the mushroom is edible? or why the skin is so pale sometimes? or whether i have to cook with or without stems? Later i got all the answers from the basic cookbook that i borrowed from the local library. So just like me back then, if you're beginner in cooking and don't know how to clean the mushrooms,then this post would help you to understand the basics.

How to Clean and Cut Mushrooms

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 0 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Basics | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Mushrooms

Procedure

First take the mushrooms from the pack and put it in warm water for 30 secs, then gently remove the dirt on the top of mushroom with your fingers.Do the same for all the mushrooms and place it on cutting board.Discard the water, if needed, you can wash in warm water for one more time.If the top of the mushroom is pale in color,then hold  the mushroom button downwards and peel the fine layer on the top by start peeling it from the inside where the mushroom button and stem is attached.Ref pic for understanding. You can skip this step,if the mushroom is fresh and all white.Then trim the stem slightly and cut into desired shape as per your dish required.Tada, all done and ready to cook.

Notes:

• Don't soak the mushroom in water for long time, it has the tendency to retain more water.
• Wash the mushroom more than once if it has more dirt.
• If you don't like the hairy part of mushroom,remove it before cutting.
  

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