About:

In this recipe pasta is cooked in tomato-onion gravy with Indian spices and Italian herbs. Bottle gourd, spinach and capsicum combination of veggies are used. Spices and vegetables combination can be personalised as per the taste.

Health benefits:

Bottle gourds are one of the favourite vegetables of Indians and have numerous health benefits.

• Ayurveda recommends cooked lauki or bottle gourd for better digestion. It is cooling, calming, diuretic and anti-bilious.
• Like cranberries, bottle gourd or lauki supports the urinary system of our body by reducing burning sensation from high acidic urination. It also reduces the chances of urinary infection because it is alkalizing and has a diuretic effect.
• It is extremely popular for weight loss in the form of juice.
• Bottle gourd is extremely popular for reducing high blood pressure and keeping your heart healthy

So enjoy this dairy free Indo-Italian pasta for lunch/dinner.

Serves: 2-3
Preparation time: 15mins
Cooking time: 30mins

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat penne Pasta-400gms
• Chopped bell peppers/capsicum-1num
• Chopped bottle gourd-1cup
• Chopped spinach-1cup
• Lime juice-2tbsp/as required
• Salt-as per taste
• Olive oil-1tbsp
• Italian herbs- as per taste

To grind:

• Chopped onion-1num
• Chopped tomatoes-2num
• Ginger-1/2inch
• Garlic-2-3cloves
• Green chilli-3num
• Flaxseed-1tbsp
• Cloves-2
• Chopped coriander with stalks- a handful

Procedure:

• In a saucepan bring water to boil and cook pasta until al dente with a pinch of salt /as per the package instructions. Once cooked drain excess water and set aside.
• Combine onion, tomato, green chillies, ginger-garlic, clove, flaxseed, coriander and blend it to coarse paste/ until crushed and well combined.
• Heat oil in the pan and add bottle gourd and saute for 4-5minutes.
• Add capsicum and saute for 4-5minutes
• Add ground paste cook until the raw flavour leaves/ until it thickens a bit by stirring in between
• Add spinach, salt and saute for 2-3minutes.
• Once gravy is cooked capsicum and bottle gourd is tender, then add cooked pasta, Italian herbs and mix well and simmer until the paste is coated and heated through.
• Turn off the flame and sprinkle some lime juice and serve hot.

Note:

• I used bottle gourd with skin on it so takes little more time to cook
• Spices can be personalised as per the taste.
• Different combination of vegetables can be done as a variation