Whole Wheat Pasta with Basil Pesto and Sun Dried Tomatoes

I like the taste of Italian basil, but don't cook with it very frequently. It has very shot shelf-life and needs to be used up within two-three days of buying it. Usually, when I have some left over basil, I use it in herb oil and enjoy it with good artisan bread, but this time, I decided to make pesto in bulk and freeze it for later use.

Traditionally, basil pesto is made using fresh basil and roasted pine nuts. I ran out of pine nuts, so I used roasted almonds for this recipe. The dish tasted great, and I didn't feel that I was missing the taste of pine nuts at all.

The recipe given here will make about 2 cups of basil pesto. We will need about half of it for the basil pasta recipe. You can freeze the rest of it, and use it as you need it.

Ingredients:
Basil Pesto
4 OZ Package of Fresh Italian Basil,
3 Cloves Garlic,
Salt to Taste,
1/2 Cup Almonds (or Pine nuts),
3/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Freshly Crushed Black Pepper
3/4 Cup Ground Parmesan Cheese

Pasta With Sun Dried Tomatoes
2.5 Cups Uncooked Whole Wheat Pasta, or Any Other Pasta of Your Choice
8-10 Cups Water, to Boil the Pasta
1/8 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes in Oil (Optional),
Salt to taste
3/4 Cup Frozen Mixed Vegetables
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Method:
Take out the almonds in a shallow non stick pan. Roast on low flame for 7-10 minutes. Make sure to stir it every few minutes, so that it gets roasted evenly, and doesn't get burnt.

While the almonds are roasting, start preparing for the pasta. Take a deep cooking pan, add 8-10 cups of water, and generous amount of salt and bring it to boil. Once the water comes to boil, add the pasta  and the mixed vegetables to the pot. Make sure there is enough water to cover the pasta completely. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or per the package instruction.

In the mean time, wash and pat dry the basil. The almonds should be done by now, turn off the stove and transfer to a bowl to cool down. In a food processor cup, add the basil, garlic, cooled almonds, olive oil, salt, and crushed black pepper. Grind to coarse paste. (or to fine paste, per your preference).

Once the pasta is cooked, take out about 1 cup of the pasta water in a cooking pan, and drain the rest of it. Heat the pan on medium-low flame. Once the water starts to boil, add about half the freshly prepared pesto to the pan. Mix well, and bring it to boil (bubbles). Now add the pasta, sun dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese to the pan. Mix well to combine everything evenly. Cook for another 5 minutes. Take off the stove, and serve hot.

This post is as a part of Sara's Corner's Healthy Food for Healthy Kids Contest  and Nithu's Healthy Food for Healthy Kids Contest 

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Shaak Ma Dhokli, Surati Fansi Dhokli

Shak ma dhokli is a Gujarati dish. This particular version I am posting here is a typical Surati dish. My husband's family is originally from Surat. So, my MIL makes typical surati food. This is one of my husband's and his parents' favorite dishes. When I tasted it first time, I didnt like it, because of the very liquidy gravy. In Surat, people eat this dish as is, but I think that the very liquidy gravy needs roti/rice to go with it. The second time I tried this dish, I made some rice to go with it. It didn't taste too bad then:).

I made this last night because we received a lot of green beans in my weekly fruit/veggie container from Full Circle farm. I didn't have other surati green beans to add to the dish, so I added 3/4 cup of frech lentils. The lentils blended well with the dish, and didn't take away the very "Gujarati Taste" from this dish.

Serves about 4
Ingredients
Gravy with Beans
Green Beans (Fansi) 1 lb, Chopped
1 Cup Mixed Surati Greens of Your Choice (Valor, Tuver, Papdi)
1 Teaspoon Oil
5 Cups Water
1 Teaspoon Carom Seeds (Ajwain),
1 Pinch Asafoetida,
Salt to Taste
1 Teaspoon Soda Bicarbonate, or ENO
5 Green Chilies, Finley Chopped,
1 Inch Ginger, Finley Chopped,
1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder,
1 Teaspoon Coriander-Cumin Powder
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Crushed Garlic, Optional

Dhokli (Makes 8-10)
1.5 Cups Whole Wheat Flour,
1 Cup Fresh Fenugreek Leaves (Chopped), OR 3 Tablespoon Kasuri Methi
Salt to Taste,
1 Teaspoon Sugar,
1 Teaspoon Oil,
1 Teaspoon Chili Powder,
1 Teaspoon Coriander-Cumin Powder,
1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder,
1 Cup Water,
2 Pinches Asafoetida

2 Teaspoon Chopped Cilantro, for Garnishing

Method:
Combine all ingredients for the beans gravy, except the garlic in a wide and deep cooking pan. Cook on medium high flame.
While the beans are getting cooked make the dhokli. Combine all dry ingredients required to make dhikli. Add oil and mix well. Now add little water at a time to make dough. The dough should be a bit "loose" in consistency, but you should be able to make small balls out of it. Depending on the brand of the wheat flour, you will need 3/4 to 1 cup of water to make dough. Once the gravy mixture comes to a boil, we will drop the dhokli in the gravy. Since the dough is not very stiff, we wont be able to make the dhokli in advance.

Apply some oil on your palms. Take some dough in your hand, and make ping pong sized ball from it. Drop it in the gravy. Do the same with the rest of the dough. You will be able to make 8-10 dhoklis from the dough. Make sure that the dhoklis don't touch each other in the gravy.

Cover and cook at medium high flame for 20-25 minutes, then check the dhoklis with the help of a knife. If the knife comes out clean, the dhoklis are cooked. Check the rest of the veggies too. If the dhoklis and veggies are cooked, then turn the stove down to low heat. Add the garlic. Stir once with a wooden spoon making sure not to break the dhoklis. Cover and cook for further 10 minutes.
Take off the heat, garnish with cilantro and sever hot.

Note: As mentioned above, this is a typical Surati dish. My husband, and his parents like to eat this dish as is. I on the other hand, like to have this with rice. Try it as is, and try it with rice/roti, and serve accordingly.

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