Pasta Tikki

Savor your leftovers ~ Pasta Tikki

In my earlier post about Stuffed Shimla Mirch I promised that I will share another recipe from leftovers. So, today I will live up to my words & fulfill my promise. It is pasta tikki.

Orzo pasta leftover from my earlier Stuffed Shimla Mirch

Yes, we all must have had Aloo Tikki whose main ingredient is aloo. It is eaten essentially as a street food snack but with additional condiments such as chole etc could be made into a complete meal. Today, I made tikki from the leftover orzo pasta from my stuffed shimla mirch. Of course the pasta in itself had all sorts of vegetables & spices that it could have been a meal by itself. But what if you have some more leftovers and want to eat something different? That’s where my pasta tikki was born.

Recipe:

Leftover orzo pasta
2 -3 medium size aloo
1 green chili chopped
Salt to taste
1 tsp red chili powder or per taste
1 -2 slices of bread
Some dhania (herb) finely chopped
1 -2 tsp chaat Masala
1 tsp garam masala (optional)

Boil aloo and mash it. Add the pasta and all the ingredients and mix well. Run cold water over bread slices, then squeeze out the water well. Crumble it and add it to the mixture and mix well. Bread acts as a binding agent. Make small balls of the mixture by placing in between your palms, then press it to flatten a bit. I used heart shaped cookie cutter and made hearts out of this mixture.

Orzo pasta tikki ready to be pan roasted

Heat a non-stick pan, add 1 tsp oil, spread it and place the tikki’s but not over crowd it. Let it cook on medium flame. Do not flip it for at least 3 -5 minutes. Gently flip the tikki to brown on the other side. Press it with a spatula to flatten a little to cook through and turn golden brown. Pasta Tikki is ready to be served as is or with a side of dhania chutney

Orzo pasta tikki for Monthly Mingle

TIP: Make sure to flatten the tikki while cooking so that it can cook through well and brown. Also, if your pasta does not have much vegetables, you can always add it along with aloo and mix before making tikki’s. Also, the above ingredients are for 1 - 1 & 1/2 cup of pasta