At Signora Pittipatti’s,
Let’s see what she’s left us to eat.
Now however, she is no longer the little girl she used to be and, when this time she asked me for it, I just had no excuse to refuse. My son on the other hand, is still fussy, and I just know (as all mothers do about their kids!) that he won’t eat spaghetti if I make it with the regular Italian sauce. (Visitors are welcome to give their own suggestions for variations!)
The result was this concoction – Cheesy spaghetti with Indian sauce! The Indian sauce consists of the regular tomato gravy containing potatoes, peas and baby corn. Like all mothers, I too jazz up or twist dishes to suit my kids’ tastes!
Verdict:
This turned out pleasantly tasty! Of course, there isn’t too much difference except that I haven’t used the regular spaghetti sauce veggies like gherkins and instead used potatoes which I assume is an Indian favourite!
Here’s how you go about it – quick n easy! Since I have just used whatever was available, the quantities are all approximations. Besides spaghetti is such a flexible dish – you can just add and delete as per your liking!
Ingredients:
Spaghetti – I must have used about 100g.
(Cook it as per instructions on the pack. Wash in running cold water and set aside to drain)
Cheese – 2 cubes of amul cheese
Whole wheat flour – 1tsp.
Milk – 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups.
Butter – 1/2tsp.
Potatoes (Boiled and peeled) – 2 small
Shelled and boiled peas – 1/2cup
Tomatoes puree – 100g
Dry Oregano – 1 tbsp.
Dry Rosemary – 1tsp.
Dry fenugreek leaves – 1tbsp.
Salt – to taste
turmeric pdr. – a pinch
asfoetida pdt. – a pinch
red chilli powder or (tobasco sauce) – to taste
Olive oil – 1tbsp.
Parsley – for the garnish
Method:
Spaghetti;
Heat the butter and roast the wheat flour till aroma exudes. Add milk and stir till it turns thick. Grate cheese and add and stir. If it is not blended, give the mixture a run in the mixer. Again heat and add the cold, drained spaghetti and fold to coat the spaghetti all over with the sauce. It should be a thickish spaghetti with a little liquid but not runny. We do not want a lumpy mass after sometime so if it looks a little thin that all right. It will thicken in no time.
Gravy:
Heat a tbsp. of olive oil. Add the tomato puree, boiled and chopped potatoes, salt, peas and spices. Mix till the gravy looks shiny and coats the veggies. If it is a little sour, add a little milk or cream or butter after it comes down to nearly room temperature (Mine was right, so didn’t have to do much!).
Serving:
Scoop the spaghetti on to the plate. Top with the gravy and garnish with coriander leaves or parsley.
Just to end the song I started before….here’s how the pasta verse goes:
Take some, give it a try.
Spaghetti very wriggly,
Oh mamma mia, oh my.
Give it a tune of your own and sing it along with your child while playing with the spaghetti and the fork – It is fun!
Sunshinemom, I love the idea of using potatoes in spaghetti. One doesn’t often see potatoes with pasta- I’ll bet they were delicious!
I saw a review on your blog of a Thane restaurant and I was transported back in time- I lived in Thane six years after getting married, and loved it. It had such a great, cozy, almost small-town (in a good way) feel to it despite having evolved into a suburb of Bombay. I still miss it!
Love ur site, especially ur desi pasta, should have been delicious
Great idea. Here’s another Indian variation – my favorite way to make pasta is a take on vegetable pulao. I cook it without a sauce, but with onions, potatoes and beans.
Yeah, love those potatoes in pasta.
love the sauce , it looks delecioussss
Thanks girls! Simran, my mum does that these days when her grandchildren ask her to make pasta & the like – she calls it noodles upma, spaghetti upma etc. I never tried it myself! Will do that the next time.
Thats a great looking dish! Lovely! And your photo of the mango was cool too!
Btw, I’ve been trying to subscribe to your blog feed and it won’t let me – it says there’s a problem with the feed subscription of this blog. Just FYI.
Vey nice! Indo-Italaian fusion.:)
Harini, the indianized version of spagetti looks yumm. Its my first time here and I bet it would not be my last time.. nice blog!!
Siri
It looks yummy.
This is one of our favorite weekend dinners. By Sunday, I am bored of cooking and kids are bored of eating Indian food. When that happens, I make Indianized pasta
I make it fun by asking kids to choose the vegetables for the pasta.
thats lovely!
Anu, thanks! Is that about the feed at TOI? I think that one has been deleted sometime by me. The one on my blog is fine, I think?!
Thanks, Tbc and Siri – Gives me great joy 2 C U here!
Anjali, Welcome and thanks for the suggestion – maybe my son will choose something!
Sri, thanks. Nice to see you around!
my children (especially my eldest) also grew up with Poldy… up to this day — they’re teens now —- we still sing the Poldy songs… your post brings back a lot of memories for me
I will surely try your recipe and let my kids know that it’s inspired by Signora PittiPatti 
Hey Pearl, welcome to Tongue Ticklers! I am happy to meet somebody else who grew up with Poldy! I still have those cassettes and like you said, we too listen to the songs sometimes. Glad that you related with this post.
Give me a feedback when you make this fusion recipe!