Instant Pot Vegetable Ramen Noodles

Here I am with another quick and easy noodle recipe in Instant Pot. It is incredibly easy and delicious too. You kids will love it and so will the grown ups! I used the "Nissin" brand oriental flavor, which is the only vegetarian version available on the markets. We can also use maggi noodles and add any vegtables of your choice. I used the spice packets that came inside the noodles and also added some soy sauce, tomato ketchup and red chili flakes to spice it up. You can use 3/4 cup water per pack of noodles.

Get Ready ( serves 3)

• Instant noodles 2.5 packs
• 2 packs of the spice mix powder

• 1 small onions sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 carrot peeled and juliened
• 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
• 1/2 cup broccoli florets
• 1/2 green bell pepper 
• 1tbsp oil
• 1 cup water ( the picture shows only 3/4 cup, i added more to the IP)
• 1 scahet soy sauce ( i am cheap, used the one from a chinese take out)
• 1-2 tbsp of tomato ketchup
• 2 -3 tsp red chili flakes as per taste

Go

• Turn the IP to saute mode. Add the oil. Once the display shows hot add the onions, ginger, garlic and saute till the onions are translucent

• Add all the vegetables and saute for a few mins

• In a cup of water add the spice mix that comes with the noodles, chili flakes, soy sauce and whisk every thing well

• Break the noodles  and arrange them on top of the vegetables or just drop them in
• Add the water to the IP, and tomato ketchup.

• Mix every thing well.
• Cancel saute.
• Press manual/ pressure cook and adjust timer to 5 mins.
• Wait for natural pressure release or do a Quick Release ( QR) after 5 mins and noodles is ready.

Enjoy this any time of the day!

Spaghetti with Creamy Avocado

If you are like me, who can eat avocados with anything, then you should try this recipe.

My daughter saw me cut the avocados and said' yew, green!".

 Then I  played the roll of a sneaky chef and made my 6 year old eat avocado with out any complaints! Sh.....

There is no butter or cream and is a perfect dish for all you low carb eaters!

There is no recipe, honestly and I did not take pictures as I cooked the dish! My kids finished this and I ended eating the creamy avocado on a simple bread toast for dinner.

Get Ready ( serves 2 kids)

• Avocado 1, pitted and remove the flesh.
• Bunch of cilantro, washed and picked
• salt to taste
• 1 clove of garlic peeled
• 1 small green chili / optional
• Lemon juice to tatste
• Spaghetti or any pasta cooked aldente, ( took 3 fistful of dry spaghetti)
•  1 tsp of olive oil
• 4-5 grape tomatoes halved ( optional)

Go

• In a blender/ food processor add the avocado, chili, cilantro, garlic, salt and lemon juice. blend till creamy, set aside.
• Cook the pasta aldente, drain and toss in some olive oil
• Add the avocado mixture to the pasta and toss them well in a bowl
• Add the cherry tomatoes and serve.

I added a little of store brought marinara sauce over this for my little one and she did not even know.

Other variations:

• Use basil or spinach to grind with the avocado.
• Add some streamed corn or any beans of your choice to the cooked pasta.

How easy is that for a week night dinner, folks?

Check out my Chilled Avocado Soup and

Popeye Pasta

I am so glad that Spring is finally here! The blossoming trees and the bright colored daffodils and bulbs bring such a great treat to your eyes. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons.

We all have seen popeye, dunking all that spinach and becoming strong! don't you want your munchkins to get the goodness of fibre, iron and vitamins from spinach?
 No worries, you are at the right place! I made pasta with some left over spinach and some red kidney beans and it was absolutely delicious. My 2 year old gobbled a lot and i was pretty pleases as she got a good serving of her greens! You can throw in any beans you want, I had some red kidney beans and I made use of it. Replace elbow macaroni to any of your favorite pastas like fusili, penne or etc...

Get Ready: (serves 2)

• 2 cup thinly chopped baby spinach
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 2 hand full Cherry tomatoes hlaved
• 1/2 onion thinly chopped
• 1/2 cup red kidney beans ( i used canned, thoroughly rinsed)
• 1 cup elbow pasta uncooked
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt to taste
• red chilli flakes to taste.

Go:

• Cook pasta,drain & reserve about 1/3 cup pasta water.
• Add 1 tbsp Olive oil ina pan. add the onion and garlic and saute till translucent.
• add the chopped spinach and cook for a few mins till it has  wilted
• throw in the cherry tomato halves.
• add the kidney beans and salt to taste.
• saute for few mins
• Add the cooked pasta and couple of tbspoons of pasta water. add more pasta water if needed
• add 1 tbsp of olive oil and toss everything well. turn the heat off.
• Serve with some chilli flakes for an extra kick.

I did not have chilli flakes, so i dry roasted one red chilli, powdered it and added on top of my pasta.Oh.. spicy!!!
 I am not a big cheese person, but if you wish add some grated parmesan/ romano cheese!

Packed this for school lunch and my son brought the container empty!

Also wanted to share these beautiful blooms from my back yard!

Cilantro Pistachio Pesto

It is hard to keep 1 bunch of cilantro fresh for long here. especially if your family is small and not using cilantro every day. i love cilantro so much that i buy it ,but it breaks my heart to see it getting all mushy very soon. I had to rescuse that poor cilantro and some untouched pistachios sitting in mypantry.
I was inspired by Satya's pesto pasta to make this dish. I did not use parsley, as I don't like it and used all cilantro.

I used 3 medium green chillies for this pesto, which was on the spicy side for me. I just loved the taste of it and the pesto can be used for pasta, rice dish,sandwich spread, as a dip with crackers etc..

Get Ready:

• 1/3 cup pistachios
• 1 cup cilantro leaves and stem
• 3 green chillies
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt to taste

Go:

• In a blender, pulse the pistachios, cilantro, gralic, chillies and salt till combied and minced.
• Add the olive oil slowly and grind to a smooth or coarse paste according to your taste.
• Store refrigerated for later use.

Cilantro pistachio pesto pasta

Cook some elbow pasta.
reserve some pasta water. Take 2 tbsp of pesto and whisk it with the pasta water in the pan. Add the drained pasta and toss. I threw in some cherry tomato just for some color.

Curried Shell Pasta salad with Yogurt & an Award

The classic macaroni salad uses Mayo as the main ingredient in the dressing. Mayo has eggs and more calories to contribute!

So why not substitute mayo with yogurt? The Greeks and Lebanese use yogurt with pasta, so why not me?

So, I did it!  This  is an excellent, to die for pasta salad with home made yogurt. It was so creamy and did not fail in the taste. This salad tasted even better once chilled.
So here is a quick and easy pasta salad for any time of the day, for those busy bees out there! I also threw a hand full of black eyed beans left over from the previous day.

Get ready:

• 2 hand full of shell pasta (dry one), cooked aldente
• 1/4 onion chopped
• 1/4 red pepper diced
• 1/2 samll jalapeno
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp sambhar powder
• 3-4 tbsp low fat yogurt
• Cilantro 1 tbsp chopped.
• salt to taste.

Go:

• In a bowl mix the yogurt, cilantro and salt to taste. Keep aside
• Keep the cooked pasta aside.
• In a pan, add oil. When hot saute the onions and jalapeno till the onions are translucent.
• Add the red pepper, black eyed beans and sambhar powder and saute for a few minutes.
• Turn off the heat.
• Toss the sauted onion, pepper mix  into  the pasta and yogurt dressing .
• Serve chilled.

PS: You may also add some grated ginger or green peas as per your taste. the options are endless!

Akila of Learning to cook passed me this award. I am so humbled and would like to give her a big thank you. She has an excellent collection of recipes and please check it out.

I would like to share this with

 Food For Thought!!

priya mitharwal
Satya
Kiran
Ragini
Priya Suresh
Aipi
Prema
Jay
Sameena

Paneer Pasta salad with Grilled Veggies

Grilled veggies, Bread, Paneer Pasta salad

I saw this recipie in one of the food magazines and added my touch to it. It tastes wonderful and I am gonna keep making this for my lunch often. I basically used stuff that was on hand. I guess you can add as many veggies and other goodie stuff you want to this versatile salad.

This recipe has been in my draft for a long long time and never got published. This is very simple, but satisfying pasta salad.

Get ready:

• Corkscrew vegetable pasta 1/2 cup
• Yellow pepper 1/2 cut into length wise pieces
• Red pepper 1/2 cut as above
• 8 grape tomatoes
• 1/4 red onion cut lengthwise
• 8 cubes of paneer
• Olive oil
• 2 bread slices cut into cubes ( i used honey wheat)
• salt & pepper to taste
• sambhar powder to taste
• cilantro to garnish

 Go:

• Cook pasta as per package instructions, drain and toss with a little olive oil.
• Combine all the vegetables, onion, with olive oil, salt and pepper and a little sambhar powder.
• Preheat oven to 325 F.
• Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non stick spray.
• Spread the veggies , paneer and bread cubes and bake for 20 mins till the peppers are done, tomatoes shrivelled.

Add it to the pasta and garnish with cilantro.

Time to dig in..... and bite into the wondeful colors and texture of this salad.