1. Barilla
2. De Cecco
3. Sunfeast Benne Vita
4. Blue Bird
5. Bambino

Barilla and De Cecco are foreign brands that are now available in Mumbai in most of the stores that keep high end and imported products like Natures Basket, Big Bazar etc. A lot of small grocery stores have also started keeping these pastas. If you plan a trip to any wholesale market like Crawford Market make sure you pick up your stock for the month as they are slightly cheaper than in the stores. Barilla is available more easily than De Cecco. These products range from Rs 155 – 400 for 250 – 500 grams.
Sunfeast had started their range of pasta’s with ready to cook pastas. After bring successful with it they have launched their new rage of wheat pastas. These are available easily in all grocery stores and inspite of being made from wheat they taste great! These are sold for about Rs 95 for 380 grams.
Blue Bird and Bambino have been the oldest brands that have been available in Mumbai for years. Initially they were of very low quality and had limited variety but through the years they have made changes in their products and got in more variety to compete with the other brands. These range from Rs 18 – 35 for 120 – 250 grams.

Since we are talking about pastas, here are quick tips for beginners to cook pasta perfectly:

- When buying pasta check the pack, if it says drum wheat or semolina, go for it! they will retain their shape even after they are cooked!

- The best way to guesstimate pasta is 1 cup of dry pasta makes 2 to 2 1/2 cups of cooked pasta

-To cook pasta take a bigger pot to cook all the pasta properly, add water and bring the water to boil.

- Once the water is boiled add salt, unsalted water boils faster than salted water. Do not add oil as it will coat the pasta which wont let the sauce coat the pasta.

- Add your pasta and keep a watch you want your pasta “al dente” which means to the tooth or slightly chewy as it will be cooked again with your sauce.

- Drain your pasta and add it to immediately your sauce, i assure you, your pasta will not de shape!

Hope these tips help solve your kitchen disasters and help you cook your pasta like a chef!

Photos by Creative tools and Jacobms used under Creative Commons License.

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2. Crawford Market, a One Stop Cooking Shop
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Preparation time 1 minute

Cooking time 2 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 1 banana
2. 1 and 1/2 glasses milk
3. 2 tsp instant coffee
4. 2-3 tsp sugar (as per taste)
5. ice cubes

Directions:

In a blender add all the ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Photosource

Preparation time 2 minutes

Cooking time 2 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups milk
2. 4 scoops vanilla ice cream
3. 10 Oreo cookies
4. 2 cups fresh cream (sweetened)
5. 2 tsp sugar
6. 2 tbsp chocolate syrup

Directions:

In a blender add 2 scoops ice cream, milk, sugar and 8 Oreo cookies and chocolate syrup. Blend until smooth. Transfer in a glass and add the remaining scoop of ice cream in both the glasses. Garnish with fresh cream and crumbled Oreo cookies. Serve immediately.

Photosource

Preparation time 2 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup milk
2. 1 cup water
3. 2 tsp tea or 2 tea bags
4. 1 cardamom
5. 1 tbsp chopped lemongrass
6. 1 tsp minced ginger
7. 2 tsp sugar

Directions:

In a saucepan heat water and add tea, sugar, lemongrass, ginger and cardamom. Let boil for a minute or two. Next add milk and boil again for two to three minutes.  Once boiled strain and serve hot with biscuits or a warm appetizer of your choice.

Preparation time 2 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 1  cup fresh lemongrass
2. 4 cups water
3. 8 tsp sugar
4. 1 lemon
5. ice cubes
6. lemon slices for garnish

In a blender blend 2 cups of water with lemongrass. Blend until the leaves are completely ground and a greensih water is seen in the blender. Strain this mixture. Take the remaining 2 cups of water and add the sugar in it. Heat this water until suagr disolves. Make sure you dont heat the water too much or you will have to wait for it to cool down. Mix the sugar syrup with the strained liquid. Add juice of a lemon and stir well. Add ice cubes and lemon slices for garnish. Serve chilled!

Preparation time 5 minutes

Cooking time 2 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 2 tbsp fresh mint leaves
2. 1 lemon, cut into wegdes
3. 4-6 fresh strawberries
4. 1 tsp sugar
5. 4 cups sprite
6. ice cubes

Directions:

In a bowl add strwberries, sugar, mint leaves, lemon slices  and crush with a pestle.  Add ice cubes in a tall glass, add the mixture and top it up with sprite. Stir and serve immediately.

Preparation time 5 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups watermelon pieces
2. 1 tbsp fresh mint leaves
3. 1 small lemon (whole lemon, cut into half)
4. 1 tsp rock salt
5. 4-5 ice cubes
6. lemon slice and some mint leaves for garnish

Directions:

In a blender add all the ingredients, watermelon pieces, fresh mint leaves, the lemon halves with the peel, rock salt and ice cubes. Blend until smooth. Next transfer to the serving glass, garnish with lemon slice and mint leaves. Serve chilled!

Preparation time 5 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups orange juice
2. 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
3. 2 cups soda
4. lemon slices for garnish
5. mint leaves for garnish

Directions:

In a tall glass add the orange juice, next add the ice cream and top it up with soda. Garnish with mint leaves and lemon slice. Serve immediately.

Preparation time 5 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup orange juice, chilled
2. 1 cup soda
3. 1 tbsp lemon juice
4. 2 tsp sugar
5. 8 basil leaves, torn roughly in two pieces
6. 5-6 lemon slices
7. ice cubes

Directions:

In a bowl add orange juice, sugar, basil leaves  and lemon juice. Stir until sugar has melted. Add soda, lemon slices and ice cubes. Serve immediately.

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients

1. 2 cups cantaloupe or musk melon
2. 1 scoop vanilla ice cream
3. 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
4. 5-6 ice cubes

Directions

In a blender add all the ingredients and blend until the smooth. Serve immidiately. If you are vegan or want to avoid the calories in ice cream you can just add all the ingredients except the ice cream. It tastes just as great as the one with ice cream in it.