Spicy Cilantro Sauce Pasta

by Priya Mahadevan
(Virginia, USA)

This is yet another fusion recipe of mine. This time, it is the fusion of the herb Cilantro. My olfactory nerves are pretty pleased with the sweet and somewhat sour smells of Cilantro. In most Indian recipes it is considered - the King of Garnish… It is also the common herbal thread, if you will, between Thai, Indian and Mexican foods.

The other ingredient was Mawa that has been lying in my cheese box in the fridge for over a week and I have been scouring recipes for it, but most of them were for sweets and I found one or two yummy kofta recipes – but as you all may know, that is a time consuming process – so I figured why not use milk solids, which is what Mawa or Khoya is and see what how it goes. Nothing ventured, nothing gained…

Ingredients:

1 cup of crushed/chopped fresh cilantro
2- 3 green chilies (2 if they are thai chilies, 3 if they are Indian)
½ block of Mawa or Khoya (grated with the smaller blades to look like Parmagiana)
1 cup of milk
2 crushed red dry peppers
4 cloves of garlic
3 cups of pasta of choice –I used mini Farfalle (cooked al dente)
2 tsp olive oil

Preparation:

In a sauce pan, add 1 tsp of oil
Cool and grind this
Add the milk
Stir in the mawa slowly
Spin this in the blender until it become a smooth creamy sauce.

Add some salt and grind some pepper if desired.

I always cook the pasta with a tsp of oil and a dash of salt.

Drain and add the sauce and toss until all the pasta is covered with the sauce.

I also roasted some yellow squash and zucchini with some garlic, and Italian seasoning and topped the paste with it – You’ve got your greens, your full share of veggies and carbs and fat protein from the Mawa – eat your way to healthy folks –