Showing posts with label Homemade. Show all posts

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Home made Tomato Pasta Sauce

We love Italian food !! It has very much become a staple diet. Pasta is something that we have atleast once a week, if not twice !! The days that have a buzy 7.30 am to 6 pm , I am sure to stir up the sauce into pasta that day. But we definitely do not stick to our monotonous flavours.. Its not just Creamy Tomato Sauce or White sauce always.. We do have a Chinese version , thats my favourite ;) . Coriander Pesto Sauce - thats Hari's favourite !! And more...

Can you believe I got my mom to like the Pasta genre . She was quite an antipasti.. until I made one for her when she visited me years before.. Amma like it butter laddened and loads of vegetable finely chopped with a dash of salt, pepper and chopped jalapenos. Its definitely history!!!

A few days back ,when I chanced upon a visit to the Indian grocer , I found Vine tomatoes dearth cheap.. 64p a kilo when our super market giants like Tesco's to M&S sell them for 1.8£ to 3£. I could not hold myself back and brought bags:) Well thats the Indian heart in me or the chef in me, I decided to make something and stack it for the cold wintery days yet to come..

That was one buzy day !! And it had to be pasta for dinner ! Yaaay !! exclaims my lil miss bumblebee.. She loves her pasta loaded with butter and cheese. While making ours, I opened a bottle of Lloyds Grosman Tomato Basil sauce and it Occured in my mind.
Pasta Sauce it is !! I had to make mine to use up the tomatoes . And what else?? I made a Curry Paste that will come handy when my guests come around.

I googled to understand the making of passata and then the sauce. Tarla Dalal's recipe came quite handy and I have altered the ingredients and proportions to suit our taste.

HOMEMADE TOMATO PASTA SAUCE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PREP TIME COOK TIME TOTAL TIME

10 Min 30 Min 40 Min

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shelf Life : Under a week Refrigerated.
Adapted from : Tarla Dalal's Tomato Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

5	Large Vine Tomatoes
1	Bay leaf
2	Dried Red Chillies
10-12	Shallot Onions
2	Cloves of Garlic
½	Green Pepper , deseeded
2 tsp	Tomato Puree
2 Tbsp.	Tomato Ketchup
1 Tsp	Dried Basil
1 Tsp	Dried Oregano
2 Tbsp.	Olive Oil
Salt	to Taste

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIRECTIONS:

Blanch the tomatoes in a large pot of boiling water. Once it cools down, peel the skin, deseed the tomatoes and chop them into fine pieces.
Finely chop onions, pepper and mince the garlic.
Heat oil in a broad pan and add bay leaf and dried red chillies. Sauté for about 30 seconds. Throw the onions, garlic and pepper ,all at once and sauté them for a 3-4 minutes , until the onions are soft .
Pop in the chopped tomato and let the pulp simmer in for at least 10 - 12 minutes, until the sauce reduces.
Add in Tomato Puree, Tomato Ketchup, Dried herbs and the about 1tsp of salt and cook for another 10 minutes. Once the desired consistency is achieved, switch off the gas and move the sauce pan on a hot stand, letting it cool down.
Refrigerate and use as may desired.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TO WHIP A TOMATO PASTA

Boil a pot of hot water and drop in the pasta to be cooked along with a tsp of oil and a pinch of salt.. Cook, according to the intructions of the packet upto Aldente.Drain the pasta and let cool down by passing it under running tap water. Set it aside.
Heat a tsp of Olive oil and add 2 tsp of the pasta sauce. Saute for about 1 minute and add the cooked pasta . Adjust your seasoning accordingly like adding more salt , pepper , pepper flakes if desired . Grate some cheese and enjoy it warm.
If you like fry veggies like carrots and peas and add it before adding pasta sauce.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES:

The original recipe calls for adding 1/4 a cup of ketchup. I have tried it in my first batch and found it sweetening my sauce. Hence I have omitted the sugar called for as well.

The recipe also calls for removing the bay leaf, peppercorns and green peppers. But I like to retain them in my jar to retain the flavours.

Sending my much loved Pasta Sauce to Simply Pasta event hosted by Nayna Kanabar at Simply food , a brainchild of Jacqueline of Tinned tomatoes.

Home made Pizza Sauce from Scratch

Why should you hide your curves when you can flaunt it ??

Likewise cookware range have also gone way too modernised,colourful and stylish, that I do not see a reason why we lock away the cooking pots and pans in the cupboard. Gone are the day when we find only monotones colors in the cookware.The red and earthen tones in saucepans, woks & ceramics remind me of autumn.

The copper collection are in range, anytime of the year And they embark a grace in your kitchen.. How about some jazzing up some green's to enjoy a touch of Spring/ Summer in this cold autumn weather, when the tree's are actually shedding their leaves ?

I have a whole list of things to put together, when we decide to build a dream kitchen /house.Here’s a board from Melissa Wong’s collection that reflect the colors of the season.

How about pulling out the red’s from your stack and brighten up the season. And a warm Pizza baked from your oven to complement the chillness outside.

Well I do intend to bake my pizza soon as its one of our family favourites.. The much deserved school term break is in force, we ( kids and me) are taking our day , just in its stride. I made my batch of Pizza Sauce ahead in time today and am just loving it. Its flavorsome and herb infused.

The bright vibrant Sauce to compliment the autumn colours is easy to make and it does give us a herald of the oncoming weather.

HOMEMADE PIZZA SAUCE FROM SCRATCH

Ingredients

1 Kg Vine Tomatoes

80g Onions ( rougly 1 Number)

60g Carrots

60g Celery

3 cloves Garlic

4-5 Tblspn of Concentrated Tomato Puree

1 Tsp of Oregano

10-12 Basil Leaves along with the stock

Salt & Pepper to season

Sugar - 1/2 a pinch

2 Tblspn of Olive Oil

Directions:

Heat Olive Oil in a large pan, add crushed garlic , followed by finely chopped onions, carrots and celery giving a minute in between each addition. Saute them all together until Onion is translucent.

Add this stage add chopped Vine tomatoes, Basil leaves along with the stalk and allow the whole thing to cook until the tomatoes get soft. Cover the pan with a lid while doing so as the tomatoes could splutter. Add tomato puree in between. This render’s the sauce the ting of colour. Some Sugar too , to counter the acidic flavour.

When the tomatoes are relatively soft, the skin begins to peel, turn off the flame and set it aside to cool.

Puree them all together, season with oregano ,salt and pepper as needed.

Store them away in an airtight container into the fridge. it will stay fresh for a week.

Notes:

Alternatively if you are unsure whether you would finish the sauce in a week, store a portion in the freezer for a later use. Defrost them and your pizza sauce is ready to go anytime.
If you are more concerned with the color of the sauce, you might as well reduce fresh tomatoes and add some tomatoes from the tin or increase the proportion of the concentrated tomato puree.

Papdi - Flat Crisps for Chat #homemade #streetfood

Diwali round the corner.. These come quite handy as a savory snack tat kids will definitely cherish and will ask for more. But these papdi's are to be enjoyed as a base for Sev Puri or Papdi Chat .Or .. why not.. top it with some buttered sweetcorn spiced with salt n pepper and a bit of Sev...Quicky one... !!

I have tried a few variations before finalising on the perfect recipe..

Combined 1/2 cup All purpose flour & 1/2 cup Wheat Flour along with 1/4th cup Semolina with the rest of the seasoning for the dough. Verdict : Slightly chewy papdi's but healthy one's
Combined Allpurpose flour along with the seasoning for the dough. Verdict : Crispy papdi's
Combined Allpurpose flour along with few tsp's of Semolina and sesoning for the dough Verdict : Crsipy papdi's. ( Will prefer the second option).

INGREDIENTS:

All Purpose Flour / Maida	1 Cup
Ajwain	1 Tsp
Cumin Seeds	1 Tsp
Salt	To Taste
Unsalted Butter/ Ghee	1.5 Tblspn
Extra Oil	Frying

DIRECTIONS:

Melt 1.5 Tblspn of butter in a large mixing bowl.Combine in All purpose flour , Salt , Ajwain & cumin seeds and mix it with hand with the butter.A crumbly texture should attain. Add very little water to knead them into a stiff dough. Cover the dough and keep it aside for a roughly 15 min.
Take a big chunk of the dough and roll it flat with a rolling pin.Using a round pastery cutter or a rectangular one cut shapes as desired. Use a fork to pierce a few holes around and this will eliminate the papdi's from puffing up.
Heat sufficient oil in a kadai in a low-medium flame. Add a small piece of the dough to check if the oil is rightly heated. Papdi's needs to go to the base of the pan and come up quickly . Drop in the papdi's in batches.Fry them in low flame until color turns a bit of light yellow. Drain the papdi onto the kitchen towel.
Once they get to room temperature ,store them in an airtight container.Repeat the process for the rest of the dough and enzoy the papdi's.
I used them up to make Sev Puri 's and Papdi Chat. . This time.. Sev Puri recipe will b up soon.. No more waiting... like other ones... Until then enjoy the pleasant wait for Diwali.

Cheers
post signature

Photography Tips Online

Saturday, November 14, 2015