Easy Dinner For a Lazy Day, No Sauce Pressure Cooker Pasta seasoned with Turmeric

Long tiring day at work. Paining legs after shopping.Tired after running around the toddler. Or just plain lazy to cook dinner. Busy and tired or Lazy and tired, whenever you need a quick dinner with minimal effort and a dish that everyone will eat without complaints, try this pressure cooker pasta. 5 minutes of prep time and 15 minutes of cooking time, dinner is ready to be served. If you have the energy, have a quick side dish or just serve as is.

This is not for the puritans of pasta. No making sauce, no boiling, straining etc etc. All in one dish. It has turmeric for good measure (for the health quotient) cooked in a pressure cooker like the regular Indian fare. Puritans are welcome to try if you want a quick short cut.

Do try and let me know your experience.

Recipe for Pressure Cooker Pasta

2 servings

Ingredients

• 3 cups dried pasta (spiralli/ farafelle/macaroni, I used DiSano pasta)
• 2 Medium Onion diced
• 3 Medium Tomato diced
• 4 Cloves Garlic diced  optional (more or less depending on you preference)
• 4 whole green chillies uncut (adds flavor and can be served to those who want spicy)
• 10 leaves of fresh basil roughly torn or 1tsp Italian seasoning. Fresh basil leaves makes huge difference to this dish
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
• 1/4 tsp turmeric optional ( use it only if you believe in the goodness)
• 2 slices of cheese or grated cheese (I found Britannia processed cheese slices to work best) 
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil (or Butter or any vegetable oil)

Directions

• Heat the pressure cooker (I used the 5 liter Prestige cooker) with olive oil to medium.
• Add the diced garlic and sauce for a quick minute. Do not let them brown.
• Add the onions, tomatoes and green chillies and saute for 2 minutes. We are not looking for them to be cooked. Just a quick glazing with oil.
• Add the dried pasta and mix. The oil and the onion and tomatoes, should coat the pasta.
• Add 3 cups of water or just enough to slightly immerse the pasta.
• Add the salt and pepper.
• Turn the height on medium high, close the lid and place the whistle.
• Turn it off after one whistle. Slowly start releasing the pressure yourself. If you let the pressure to subside on its own, pasta gets over cooked and becomes soggy.
• Remove the lid, add the cheese and check if the pasta is cooked according to your liking. It takes a couple of times to  know how long to cook according to the the pressure cooker. I also found that cooking times vary with the brands of Pasta. 
• Serve as is or it with simple a side of sauteed asparagus or spinach.