De-tour Penne

"As long as there is pasta and Chinese food in the world, I am okay".

I am a firm believer in the sanctity pf these words for my own happiness. Honestly if you have been following my Instagram handle, you will often find these are the two cuisines I turn to, in moments of despair, happiness or confusion: basically for all things relevant and ir-relevant. While most of my former posts sing praises about the longer strands of pasta, I have discovered, I have started loving the smaller tubular shapes as well, i mean penne in this case. Some wise man had said someday, comparing size to pleasure is all about perception, one needs to know their job well, to deliver under all circumstances. Might I point out, that wise man is the one doling out these words in the blog. Well, if you wish to have more reference on the size subject, turn to our very own Bollywood, currently a war zone.

However, since I am a firm believer in the essence of peace, here I am all set to calm down my mind, by digging into a plate full of wondrous pasta that gets ready in a jiffy, and with the most humble of ingredients available in the kitchen. Despite the fact, that I have loved Pasta cooked mostly following Italian recipes, this Indian-ised version also scored brownie points. They say caring is sharing, and here I am happily sharing mine with you.

Let's hit the kitchen and get cooking guys. We start with having a look at the ingredients:

1. Chop up 2 medium size tomatoes + half an onion+ 2 cloves of garlic+ 1" ginger+  1/2 zucchini + handful of coriander leaves: all as finely as possible. Shred some leftover chicken ( in case its a curry, wash the pieces well and then shred). Tear a handful of ham and keep aside.

2. Boil 1+3/4th cup penne pasta in a lot of water. Add 1/2 tsp turmeric + 1/2 tsp chili powder + 2 heaped tsp salt. cook till al-dante, following packet instructions & then drain. Reserve a cup of the pasta boiling water.

3. Heat about 2 tbsp vegetable oil in pan & add 2 dry red chilies, broken & the chopped garlic. Fry till the oil warms up. As soon as the garlic sizzles, add in the chopped onion. Toss well.

4. Once the onion softens & turns translucent, time to put the ginger and the tomatoes in the pan with a pinch of salt. mix, stir, and reduce the flame. cook till they starts to disintegrate.

5.As they turn mushy, add in the zucchini and toss well to combine. Crank up the heat as well.

6. Throw in the boiled pasta, freshly ground black pepper  & the ham together and mix well. Pour in some of the pasta water to the pan, to facilitate the sauce coating the ridges of the pasta. Taste and adjust seasoning. The shredded pieces of chicken also goes into the pan at this time.

6. Finish it with the chopped coriander leaves and a generous tablespoon of herb garlic butter ( well you can for sure use any butter you want).

This dish was cooked as part of my fridge raid expedition, cooked as breakfast for mother & moi, during the lockdown period. Hence no pretty picture could be clicked since we had stomachs growing out of hunger. Ever since this has been rustled up and eaten many a times. Simple is the buzzword, and often I substitute pf give certain ingredients a miss, depending on availability, since I choose mostly not to step out other than going to work. Also in case if there are vegetarians reading this, substitute chicken and ham with tofu, may be, since paneer or cottage cheese can get a bit too crumbly. Also, if ham is missing from your freezer, bacon can be used, no harm in that at all.

This by far, in my opinion is the easiest of all recipes that I have shared with you guys. This also is sure to be a crowd pleasure, trust me. So after our arrival into the normal world we know, rustle this up for dinner, during a pajama party with friends. And with minimum effort you are sure to be crowned at the star of the gathering.

Stay safe. Eat healthy. Save up as much as you can for harder days. For our friend Covid seems to be getting stronger by the day, and is her to stay for a while!!