Fresh Vegetarian Pasta Salad Recipe
Fresh Vegetarian Pasta Salad is an easy to make, delicious, no fuss salad recipe with available ingredients from refrigerator and pantry. Summer friendly, fresh flavours, No heavy dressing, low on oil and whole wheat fussili pasta salad with Italian herbs.
Servings 2 people
Ingredients
For Preparing Pasta
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Fusilli Pasta (heaped cup) 1 cup is 200 ml measurement
- 4 cups Water (for boiling pasta)
- 1 tsp Olive Oil
- Salt to taste Check notes
Salad Ingredients
- ¾ cup Corn steamed
- ¾ cup Chopped Capsicum
- 2 Tomatoes (thinly sliced) Read Notes
- 1 Onion sliced or chopped
- 50 gms Paneer or Indian Cottage Cheese cubed
- Handful of Microgreens (optional)
Ingredients for Salad Dressing
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Dry Basil Herb Check notes below
- 1 tsp Dry Oregano Check notes below
- ½ tsp Red chilli flakes
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper Powder
- Juice of half a lime
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Boil water in a vessel and add salt. The water should be salty so that the pasta doesn't taste bland post cooking.
- Add a heaped cup of pasta to the boiling water and allow it to cook until al dente (pasta with a bite)
- Drain the water, allow the pasta to cool in a bowl and drizzle some olive oil to prevent it from drying.
- In the meanwhile, prepare all the ingredients for the pasta.
- Boil or steam corn and keep aside. I have steamed corn in fridge always. I steam it with some turmeric powder and salt for that vibrant yellow colour.
- Slice onions, Chop tomatoes, capsicum or bell peppers and keep aside.
- Wash the microgreens and allow it to dry on a kitchen towel.
- Chop paneer into small cubes.
- In a big bowl, add the cooked pasta along with vegetables, paneer, corn and some microgreens. Sprinkle some salt to taste, dry basil powder, oregano, red chilli flakes, black pepper powder and juice of half a lemon.
- Drizzle 1 tbsp of Olive oil and toss well. Serve immediately garnished with some microgreens.
Notes
- While boiling water for pasta, ensure the water is salty else cooked pasta will taste bland. Taste and check the water before adding the pasta for cooking.
- In case of tomatoes - You can either slice or chop them as required. You can also scoop out the seeds too if you don't prefer seeds in salad. If you have cherry tomatoes in stock, you can use that too by slicing it into 2.
- I grow a variety of microgreens at home and add it to salads or sprouts. These Microgreens are made with coriander seeds. Just snip them, give it a good rinse in the colander and add it to salads. No need to cook. They are crunchy and full of water, nutrition. It is optional, add only, if readily available.
- Since fresh herbs are not accessible all the time, I have used all the dry herbs from the pantry. Please feel free to add fresh herbs.
- Quantity of red chilli flakes and black pepper powder can be adjusted according to preference.
- I have used paneer or Indian Cottage cheese as it was readily available in the refrigerator. You can add crumbled feta cheese or any cheese you prefer to the recipe.
- Feel free to add a variety of vegetables in the salad. Also, the quantity need not be limited to 3/4 cup as stated in the recipe. Go crazy with vegetables and/or pasta.
- This salad recipe is for 2 as lunch. If serving as appetizer, it can be sufficient for 4 people.