Colored Polka Dot Rotini! 

 Yes folks, it’s a recipe!  And I got it out of Reader’s Digest, if you can believe it.  Of course I only used half of their ideas and substituted whatever I wanted for the rest, but that’s pretty normal, right? 

So here it is.  Tricolored Rotini (corkscrew shaped noodles) cooked in coconut milk and spices.  Yum.  I know it looks like a lot of spices, but it still tastes pretty mild so season as desired.  And it really doesn’t take that long to measure out, the hardest part is getting started. 

If you use lentils or chickpeas or another bean, it makes a complete protein with the noodles so that’s a complete meal all in one. 

1 1/2 cups Vegetable/Chicken Broth 

1 cup light coconut milk (as if I ever buy LIGHT anything! use regular, it’s good for you)

1 tsp EACH sugar and ground coriander

1/2 tsp EACH ground cumin and chili powder

1/4 tsp EACH curry powder and ground ginger (I used more curry and less ginger, b/c that’s the way I like it.) 

8 oz (227 g) tricolored rotini pasta, uncooked  (Yes, you can use whatever noodles you have)

1 cup frozen green peas  (or lentils)

1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped

1/4 cup dried currants (I used chickpeas, I don’t know what currents are. )

Combine broth, coconut milk, sugar, coriander, cumin, chili powder and ginger.  Bring to a boil.  Add noodles, reduce heat to med-low, cover and simmer for 6 minutes.  Add red peppers, peas, and chickpeas (or whatever colorful things you like and are using).  Simmer 6-7 minutes more until liquid is absorbed and pasta is tender.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. 

Sorry, no pictures, we made it last with white spaghetti noodles, and didn’t think to take a picture.  It looked better the first time with the colored corkscrews, but the second time I doubled the curry powder and Nate couldn’t get enough of it.