Pasta In Pumpkin Sauce

Pasta has been my comfort food.. I have always found it very easy to make pasta in creamy bechamel sauce with lots of cheese on it... Whenever my friends came over for lunch or dinner pasta was one dish that i always made apart from other dishes..Be it in bechamel sauce, marinara sauce or just a plain pasta salad... They all would just love it.. This time when my best friend called me to her new home for lunch, i decided to make pasta in pumpkin sauce..I have always heard of it, but never tried it... I didnt know how it would turn out as it was the first time i was working with a pumpkin.. Bit apprehensive, still decided to go on with it.. One thing about me cooking is that I cannot cook the same recipe everytime, i need to tweak it everytime so that i dish out something new, with new flavours and textures... Then let the result be whatever.. So this habit of mine pushed me to try this pasta in pumpkin sauce..

                When i went through the recipes online to get an idea of pumpkin puree, all I could find was pasta in normal pumpkin sauce with regular italian flavours.. I always like my dishes to have that extra zing of flavours which impart a bit of tanginess to it.. Im more inclined towards spicy food.. So to add that extra zing, i added a few sauces to my pasta sauce.. This gave an extra flavour as well as the sweetness of pumpkin could also be felt..

                In one of the recipes online i found that cream can also be substituted with coconut milk.. As pumpkin and coconut go together very well... As at that of point of time i didnt have coconut milk, i went ahead with cream only.. Next time i make this pasta again, i wil make sure that i have coconut milk available with me, so that i get to taste a different flavoured pumpkin pasta..

Penne in Pumpkin Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked penne pasta

2 cups pumpkin peeled and chopped

2tbsp olive oil

1tsp garlic crushed

1 onion chopped lengthwise

1/4 cup colored bellpeppers julienned

1 carrot julienned

1 tomato julienned without pulp

Salt

Oregano or mixed herbs as per taste

5-6 Basil leaves torn with hand

Red chilli flakes

1tsp vinegar

1tbsp chilli sauce

1tbsp tomato sauce

3-4 tbsp cream

1/2 cup processed grated cheese

Method: Heat a pan and cook pumpkins with 1/2 cup water till soft and mushy. (Alternatively you can even boil the pumpkin). Let it cool and blend it into a thick puree. This would reduce to 1 1/2 cup approximately. Now heat the pan again and add olive oil. Saute garlic and onions till transluscent. Add bellpeppers and carrot and cook for 2mins. Then add tomato, pumpkin puree, salt, oregano, basil leaves, vinegar, tomato sauce, chilli sauce and red chilli flakes. Mix well. Add cream and also little water as per consistency. Once it comes to a boil add in the pasta. Mix. Cover and simmer for about 5-7mins till pasta absorbs the gravy. Sprinkle grated cheese and serve hot.