BEET TOMATO PASTA WITH PEAS MASALA

                    Life is not worth living if I cannot have pasta or bread again-Monica Seles
      

The day starts off bright and promising. 

After a month of being without a/c, yesterday the heavens opened and we feel cold, thanks to my new friend who fixed it.
  
Filled my elephant mug with strong hot coffee(which was a pure torture last couple of weeks). I sat by the window, slowly sipping away jotted my plans for the day.  Little did I know then that plans work a bit differently every time. 


 After my coffee,I was refreshed and ready to go about my day.  My morning jog goes for a toss with boys at home and my hubby out of town. After dropping the kid off to his class, came back very optimistic about making my pasta from scratch. Got back and realized, I had to run errands which I was postponing(now I have to do that after lazing for couple of weeks).  Lunch comes and goes, my pasta hasn't started yet.

Very determined , I gathered everything to make my pasta.  Then ring ring, get a call from my little one's coach about his class....oops, I forgot.  I drive my little one to his class and get back.  My headache's creeping on me, I remember it's time for my evening coffee.  After a rushed coffee routine, I am on a crunch to make dinner, which I thought would be done by now.

OK, mixed all the ingredients, let the dough  rest, went to pick my little one from class.  Got back, a little tired, but I was not going to allow anything to come in between my pasta and me now.  Rolling time came, and I just forgot how tough it is to roll by hand.  Friends, I don't have a pasta machine.  Took me a whole hour to roll out, cut it into thin strips.  It was finally done, but not to my satisfaction, it was a bit thicker than I would've wanted. The thinner it is the sauce gets soaked in better. Then again I can get bit fussy.

Here goes my 'In a Rush Beetroot Pasta with Green Peas Masala', which is ridiculously yummy and hearty. It might be a little overwhelming at first but it's as simple as making the dough, roll, cut and boil,  You are adding couple of extra steps and whole lot of satisfaction. Remember though, without the pasta maker it is a bit difficult to roll it to paper thin, but it's not hard.  If you love pasta, and you've eaten fresh made pasta, you know, it's worth the effort right??

Three of us sat for dinner on our brown sofa finishing off a whole plate of pasta watching Lucy's Show and laughing, she is the best comedian I know.

BEET TOMATO PASTA with GREEN PEAS MASALA

Ingredients:

For the Pasta:
All purpose flour             - 2 cups
large eggs                      - 2
beet juice(fresh)           -  2 tbsp
tomato paste                 - 1 tbsp
olive oil                        - 2 tsp
salt                               - 1/2 tsp

For the Green Peas Masala:
Green Peas                   - 1 cup
onion                           - 1
tomato                        - 1
ginger/garlic paste       -  1 tsp
almonds                      -  15
jeera                          - 1/4 tsp
garam masala              - 1/4 tsp
chilly powder              - 1/2 tsp
salt                            - 1 tsp or according to taste
pepper                       - 1/4 tsp
oil                              - 2 tsp
sugar                          - 1/2 tsp optional

Method:

For the pasta:
1. Mix all the ingredients for the pasta dough to a tight tough dough.  Knead it well for about 10 minutes.  If using a food processor, process it for around 5 minutes.  Let it rest for a minimum of 1 hour.  At this point you can refrigerate this dough over night, and bring it to room temperature before rolling it out.
2.  Cut the dough into fourths.  With one portion, roll it out very very thinly, as thin as you can and cut it into very thin ribbon strips with a sharp knife.
3.  Use little all purpose flour on the cut strips from sticking together.
4.  After everything is cut.  BOIL a quart of water, add little salt and little oil.  Bring it to a boil and add the pasta in it.  Let it cook for 4 minutes, drain it out and keep aside.

For the Green Peas Masala:
1. Grind the onion, tomato and almonds to a fine paste.
2.  In a pan, add oil, add jeera, once it sputters, add the paste and cook it for 3 minutes.  
3.  Add chilly powder, garam masala and salt and cover and cook for 5 minutes. 
4.  Add a cup of water and let it cook for another 10 minutes or until the raw smell of the onions are gone.  
5.  At this stage add the peas(I used frozen), and cover and cook for another 5 minutes.
If you are using fresh peas, add it at step 3 itself.
6.  Last add some pepper and sugar. 

MIX the pasta and Masala and serve it hot.  
ENJOY!!!