There are several varieties of pasta available in different shapes. Among all, one of my favorites is machine cut pasta in melon seed shape. This teardrop shaped pasta looks so beautiful, cooks easily and the taste is not bad either. For a veggie-upma style recipe, this pasta is perfect.
For a quick meal, this afternoon, I’ve cooked the pasta al dente for about 5 minutes in salted, boiling water. While the pasta is cooking, in a skillet I’ve sautéed some chopped shallots, baby potatoes, tomatoes, chillies and Indian broad beans (chikkudu kaya vittanaalu) in two teaspoons of peanut oil for few minutes to tender. Tossed the boiled and drained melon seed pasta with the veggies and seasoned it with some salt, lemon juice and some bean sprouts. A small bowl of this pasta and a glass of tomato rasam, just enough to maintain our low metabolism .
Melon seed pasta with veggies
1 cup of raw melon seed pasta
2 teaspoons of peanut oil
4 baby potatoes, cut into cubes
3 shallots, finely chopped
2 to 4 small green chillies, finely chopped
1 medium sized tomato, finely chopped
¼ cup of each – Indian broad beans and bean sprouts
Pinch of turmeric
Salt and lime juice to taste
Indira:
Looks good. Is Melon seed same as Orzo? Your pasta looks a little more tear drop’y’ than the orzo pasta I am used to buying.
Comment by Luv2cook — March 8, 2006 @ 3:09 pm
Compared to orzo avialble here in grocery shops, this melon seed pasta is very thin and exactly looks like
cantaloupe, watermelon seeds.Comment by Indira — March 8, 2006 @ 3:24 pm
Thanks for the clarification, Indira. I don’t think my grocery store carries this but I will keep looking.
Comment by Luv2cook — March 8, 2006 @ 5:19 pm
Such a cute looking pasta. Even better than orzo, IMO. The pasta and the broad beans look good together.
Comment by mika — March 8, 2006 @ 5:52 pm
Hi Indira,
As always, you come up with some of the most creative recipes, no wonder you’re my favorite blogger. Keep it coming!
Cheers,
Trupti
Comment by Trupti — March 8, 2006 @ 7:22 pm
welcome back Indira.
Never saw melon seed pasta before. Will look for some.
Comment by santhi — March 8, 2006 @ 7:40 pm
hi,
You are maintaining a wonderfull website, congrats. I am from andhra too. Anyway i need a favor i have 4lb of chora dal (spilt cow peas) which i bought by mistake would you please tell me what this dal is called in telugu and how can i use it. I dont like wasting food so i want to cook something with it. thankyou in advance.
Indira replies:
Thanks Pranavi. I can only help if could provide me a link to the image of chora dal (from google or yahoo or your own) or reply me with Telugu name(I’m also from Andhra). I’ve to see how they look first, before giving you any recipe suggestions. And these dals and their different names can be really confusing. I just want to be sure before sending you in recipe direction.:)
Comment by pranavi — March 8, 2006 @ 9:42 pm
Hi,
I haven’t seen melon seed pasta before..but it looks yummy.Will definitely add this one to my shopping list.
Comment by Annita — March 8, 2006 @ 11:26 pm
This is a very interesting recipe. And you do like your ‘pasta sauces’ with peanuts don’t you! I’ve never come across this pasta, but it does seem versatile (keyword being: upma)!
Comment by Garam Masala — March 9, 2006 @ 9:26 am
wow Indira! I’ve never come across this shape of pasta before. I’ve tried orzo, but will have to look out for this one. Another, very creative and very original dish with a fabulous picture to do justice to it!!!
cheers!
Comment by Saffron Hut — March 9, 2006 @ 9:37 am
That sure looks yummy, Indira! I havent ventured beyond Fusili, Penne, Bow-tie and shell pasta.. Looks like there are many more interesting types out there! Is this an entry for Meena’s FMR ‘Fusion’ this month? Wow! You are so creative.
Comment by Kay — March 9, 2006 @ 11:11 am
Some commnts I posted here got deleted (probably by the SpamKarma). Would you look into this? Thanks.
Indira replies…
Madhavi, I’m sorry about your comments getting deleted from the website. I recently installed a spam filtering software and sometimes legitimate comments are also getting deleted. I will change the settings to fix this as soon as possible. Thanks for bringing this to my notice.
Comment by Madhavi — March 9, 2006 @ 11:43 am
So lovely! I like to use melon seed pasta sometimes in melon soup.
Comment by eqj (the chocolate lady) — March 9, 2006 @ 1:33 pm
another pasta recipe for me to try out, thanks indira!
Comment by rumy — March 10, 2006 @ 1:58 am
Cow pea is called Bobbarlu in telugu. thankyou in advance
Comment by pranavi — March 21, 2006 @ 8:30 pm
Recently found this pasta at Big Lots..check your local store for supplies.
Comment by Suzanne B — July 5, 2009 @ 2:10 pm
Thanks for the melon pasta recipe! Just picked up a bag out of the Mexican cuisine section at my local grocer but wasn’t sure what to do with it. I’ll be back for more cooking suggestions later. Thanks again!
Comment by Eddie — March 29, 2012 @ 12:11 pm
Faraon brand from Mexico carries this and it is much cheaper than orzo from Italy.
Comment by icewoman — May 4, 2012 @ 9:56 pm