Spaghetti pasta recipe - a vegetarian delight

I have no qualms when it comes to pasta recipes. It’s easy to assemble and makes a full meal when I am running out of ideas. This time it’s just another spaghetti recipe with green leaves- baby spinach and curly kale and some chopped mushrooms.

Now curly kale has been a star around the blogging world quite often with the curly kale chips, doing the rounds all while. I have been making curly kale in a very Bengali way of tempering it with panch phoron or with kalo jeerey/nigella seeds and little bit stir/fried with shallots and dry red pepper for quite a while now. If you are familiar with notey shaak or Amaranths in English, then the stir/fried curly kale tastes quite similar to that but not as in whole. There is this recipe  to make the green leaves if you wish not to wait that much. Now most of the times I do forget to take pictures of the final product or many a times my primary concern are to feed three hungry and rumbling tummy. I will share the recipe some other day. For the time being it’s spaghetti with baby spinach and curly kale - green power.

Baby spinach cooks fast as compared to Curly Kale. So, I do add kale green leaves half way through to the simmering pot of pasta. And when the pasta is nearly done, I tend to add baby spinach leaves towards that end. This way all the greens are cooked properly. If you wish you may add them in the sauce itself.
Now to the recipe

Spaghetti  Pasta with greens –baby spinach and curly kale
Serves-3-4
Recipe requirements
About half packet of spaghetti  pasta or roughly 250 grams ( can use wholemeal spaghetti instead of plain ones)
For the sauce
 2 cups of chopped curly kale
2 cups of chopped mushroom
1 cup of baby spinach
3-4  cloves of garlic
1 medium size white onion
2 tomatoes
2 heaped tbs of pasta sauce jarred
Seasoning
1 tsp of red pepper powder (optional)
1 tsp of dried oregano/ 2tsp of  mixed herb
1 tsp of salt
3-4 tbs of olive oil

Method


Put a big saucepan with enough water on boil. Add pinch of salt and little bit of oil, not much. Now add in the spaghetti pasta. Half way through add in chopped curly kale leaves. Cook the pasta and when it’s nearly done, add in baby spinach it. Keep it covered and drain excess water if it has any. Personally,I like to retain this water as this adds to the texture of  the sauce later on.
Now  prepare the sauce
Heat up a saucepan, add in olive oil in a saucepan, add and fry the chopped garlic to a nice brown. Now add in chopped onions. Fry further 3-4 mints or till they turn translucent.
Now add in all the chopped vegetables- tomato, mushroom.
Now keep on frying further 4-5 mints at med-high flame. Add in jarred pasta sauce. Add about a cup of water. Cover the saucepan and let it simmer till all the vegetables cooked. Personally I don’t like overcooked vegetables with pasta recipes. Vegetables should be crunchy and yet not over cooked as for the correct texture is concerned.
Adjust the seasonings-red pepper powder, add it to give nice kick to the recipe.
Add in salt, and dried oregano. If you wish you may add just a tsp of butter to further make a smooth sauce.And in case you don’t have oregano then can add mixed dried herb.
Add this prepared sauce to the cooked  spaghetti pasta. Mix well. At the time of serving add in crumbled cheese/paneer or the mozzarella cheese.
Sprinkle some red chilly flakes for some more spice.
Serve and enjoy.

Happy Cooking friends