Carrot Pasta in White Sauce

I usually cut and pressure cook carrots in bulk and freeze them. This saves me a lot of time when I need to make something like sweet potato, carrot, and semolina porridge,  or carrot parathas. Sometimes I sneak this carrot in sabzis, not because Devansh is a fussy eater but because my husband, Kalpesh is. It also comes in handy when I make carrot pasta for Devansh. With the cooked carrot ready it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to make this pasta for Devansh and he loves it.

I didn’t make pasta at home all that much till say about a month back. Then I made pasta kheer for Gudhi Padwa and had some unused shell pasta left in the packet after that. I thought I’ll use it up to make Devansh some carrot pasta and to my relief he liked it. I usually use wheat semolina pasta, this time I chanced upon Fabindia’s organic whole wheat pasta. I decided to give it a try. I was a bit concerned whether Devansh would like it as it tastes quite different from the usual pasta but luckily Devansh liked this healthier version just fine. In fact, he and the bigger kid a.k.a. husband also loved it. Kiddo and husband both loving organic pasta in beta-carotene-rich carrot sauce what more can I ask for?

Before I end, I must share with you an interesting fact I chanced upon while writing this post. Apparently, cooked carrots have more nutritional value than raw ones. I was ruing the fact that of late Devansh has stopped eating carrots in his tomato-carrot kachumber. Then I get to read that “Cooked Carrots May be Better than Raw Ones“, that just made my day. Hope you like this simple and nutritious toddler- and kid-friendly pasta recipe.

Carrot Pasta in White Sauce Recipe

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Carrot Pasta in white sauce is a healthy food option for toddlers and kids, made using beta-carotene-rich carrot sauce and whole wheat organic pasta.

Author Mukta Tikekar

Ingredients

• 3/4 th cup pasta I used organic whole wheat pasta
• 1 carrot
• 4-5 cloves of garlic grated
• 3/4 th cup milk
• 1 cube of cheese grated
• 1 tbsp butter
• Pinch of black pepper powder
• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Peel carrot, cut it in small pieces, and then steam the pieces. Instead of steaming, you can cook in a pressure cooker for about 7-8 minutes (2 whistles).
• Cook pasta as per the instructions on its packet. (I used Fabindia’s curvi rigati pasta.)
• Heat a pan, add butter, and then add grated garlic.
• Sauté for 15-20 seconds and then add milk. (If you want to make a thick sauce then add 2 tsp wheat flour, sauté it for a couple of minutes and then add milk.)
• Simmer for half a minute, and then add grated cheese and stir.
• Simmer till the mixture thickens a bit (15-20 seconds), add pepper powder and steamed carrot, and mix properly. (You can also add dried herbs like oregano and basil in addition to black pepper powder. Devansh manages to filter out the dry herbs while chewing so I avoid putting them in his pasta.)
• Add cooked pasta and mix properly.
• Add salt, mix properly, and then turn off heat. (Butter and cheese both contain salt so go easy on the salt.)

Notes

Tips:
You can pressure cook 4-5 carrots and freeze the excess for future use. This is a real time saver when you want to make something like Sweet Potato, Carrot, and Semolina Porridge. You can also add this cooked carrot to sabzis or gravies. Add it when the sabzi is almost cooked as you don’t want to overcook the carrots as it would lead to loss of nutrients.
You can sprinkle some grated cheese on top while pasta is hot.
You can spice up this pasta for grownup kids by adding chili flakes.