UFO attacked my pasta- How I saved the world one bite at a time

As I was walking down the supermarket aisle I noticed an odd looking pasta shape. I picked it up thinking we could use it for dinner that night and then kept it back because we decided to make our own pasta. But then when I looked at it again I actually noticed what it was. It was UFO shaped pasta! I remember seeing all kinds of unmentionable shapes and colours in Italy. But UFOs?! As weird as it may sound, the pack was filled with the cutest little durum wheat alien vehicles. How could I not pick it up?!

Uncooked UFOs

Cooked UFOs

We ended up making Lasagna for dinner that night, but the next morning our pasta quota wasn't over just as yet. It was almost brunch time till I decided I was going to attempt the American junk classic Macaroni and Cheese. I searched the internet for inspiration and then finally came up with my own version using whatever I had and thought was healthy enough to be added into the sauce.

Here's how it went.

You need:

1 cup whole cashews
1/3rd cup Nutritional Yeast
3 cloves of Garlic
1 small Onion
1 tbsp Corn Starch
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
Salt
Pepper
Water

2 cups Cooked Pasta

Blend the cashews till they are a fine powder. Don't let it get to the butter stage. Add in the nutritional yeast, garlic, onion and blend. It might all clump up together. Add a little water to make it a fine paste.

In a saucepan, mix the corn starch, soy sauce and mustard powder. Add a little water and bring to a boil. Add in the cashew paste and add water little bit at a time till it gets to a nice thick consistency. Add salt, pepper and take it off the stove.

At this stage I added some chopped capsicum but you could leave it out if you want or add any vegetables of your choice.

Mix it with the cooked pasta in a bake proof dish and bake for 10 minutes at 175C till the top browns a bit.

Serve hot.

We're safe now. I ate the last UFO.

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Appetizers : Tandoori Vegetables

This is as easy as tandoori can get, it's a quicker and healthier way of doing it too!

You can use any vegetable that's in your fridge and adjust the amounts of vegetables according to the number of people you are making it for.

You need:

• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Capsicums
• Mushrooms
• Zucchini
• Tofu (soya paneer)

• Steamed/ Boiled Potatoes
• Steamed/ Boiled Carrots
• Steamed/ Boiled Arabi / Colocasia
• Steamed/ Boiled Sweet Potatoes
• Steamed Okra/ Lady's Finger/ Bhindi
• Steamed Cauliflower

Anything you like basically.

• A handful of cashews (optional)
• Tandoori Masala (Available as Tandoori 'Chicken' Masala in the stores with a green dot, so it's vegetarian!)
• Salt

Let me explain a few things first before going in to the recipe.

It's always better to steam you vegetables because if you boil them or cook them at a very high temperature you lose out on nutrients. If you don't have a steamer, go buy one or you can buy a vessel with holes at the bottom and put that in a slightly bigger vessel with water. Make sure the water doesn't boil up to the vegetables because then it's as good as boiling them. An even easier thing to do is put it all in cooker vessels and put it in the pressure cooker with water just as you would normally pressure cook rice or daal. Just omit the weight/ whistle when you cover it. Use a steel glass to cover the top and let it cook away and remember every vegetable takes it's own time to cook. So make sure you start steaming vegetables that take longer first and then add in the rest.

The steamer is use is pictured here.

So to start with the tandoori, steam vegetables that you're supposed to and those that can be eaten raw stay raw.

This next step is totally avoidable if you like. It's just to give the vegetables a softer coating so

they become crisper. I've tried it without the cashew and it works fine. Also cashew's are not fattening, at least not as much as curd, which is used as a marinade otherwise, so just give the seed a chance (yes it is a seed).

Put the cashews in a blender with very little water and blend it in to a fine paste.

Add 2 spoons of tandoori masala for every 4 spoons of cashew paste and a little salt. You can add more masala if you like it spicy. Add water and make it to a thick gravy consistency.

If you're not using cashew, use little bit of water with the tandoori masala and salt to make a paste.

Cut all the vegetables in chunks of two inches and de-seed the tomatoes.

In a big bowl, put all the cut vegetables (steamed and raw) add the paste and mix it well so all the vegetables are coated.

Put this in to/ on your grill or just make it on a tawa/ flat pan. You dont have to put any oil just make sure you don't burn it.

When it's crispy on the top, it's done. Squeeze a lime on top and serve.

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