Wishing you all Very Happy and Healthy New Year! one of my resolution this year is to blog post frequently. when you have strong passion, you have to do it. My passion for clicking , recipe hunting is on as usual. hope i will improve.


Pasta is loved at home. i prepare tomato pasta quite often. when i spotted basil in a grocery store, i knew i will be preparing this tomato and basil pasta. once i prepared with Indian basil and loved it. now the Thai basil(can i call it that way?) is also tried.


cook the pasta as per packet instructions, what i do is, i measure paste in my 100 grams cup and add 1 litre water per 100grams. i usually microwave in very high power for 15 mins. while making on gas stove, i boil the water first and then add pasta and let it boil for 15 mins. once the pasta in done, drain it completely.


Ingredients:

Pasta - 200 grams
Red Tomato sauce - 4 tbsp
Black olives - 2 tsp
Basil leaves -few to garnish

Ingredients for Red Tomato and Basil Sauce / Marinara sauce:

Tomatoes - 4
Onion - 1 of medium size (finely chopped)
Garlic - 4 cloves (finely chopped)
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Red chili flakes - 1 tsp
Tomato Ketchup - 1 tsp
Basil Leaves - 5 / dried basil leaves - 1 tsp
Oregano - 1 tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder/ paprika  - 1 tsp
Red Wine - a splash / 2 tsp's (optional)

Method:

Heat the pan, add olive oil, finely chopped garlic and saute it. then add onion and saute till it turns translucent. now add finely chopped tomatoes and saute till it is mixed with onions. this takes at least 3 to minutes. if i have to say in Indian way, saute till it resembles tomato thokku.

Add salt, kashmiri chilli powder, chili flakes, basil, oregano and ketchup to the pan one by one and give a good mix, till it all comes together like a sauce. add little water if it sticks to the pan. allow the sauce to sit in pan in medium flame for about 10 minutes. finally add red wine and remove from the flame.

Now mix the red sauce with pasta, add olives,basil leaves & mix. This red pasta goes well with Red wine.


If you love pepper taste, reduce the chilli powder and add freshly crushed black pepper. i served with chilli flakes as we prefer our pasta little spicy.

If you are serving for kids or to a cheese lover, grate some mozzarella cheese over the pasta, grill for 2 minutes and serve warm.

My blog baby turns 4 today. it all started with searching recipe in google for enna kathrikkai kuzhambu, somehow i landed on mahanandi. i explored the site the same day and read few comments and clicked some commenters names and went over their blogs. that was when i discovered blogging. what attracted me towards food blogging was drool worthy pictures. so when i started the blog, i posted just the pictures and not recipes. i was also lucky to have my college-mate to pinpoint my mistakes. she corrected me a lot in initial days and i still respect her comments and ideas.



My point and shoot camera was just 2 weeks old when i started blogging. everything was new to me at that time. even my son was just 6 months old. but i should say blogging helped me to come out of my postpartum depression blues. i should say blogging and my  son helps me all these days to relieve my stress.


I want to thank all my blog readers and blog friends this day, for all your support and beautiful comments you say whenever you visit me.


also thanks to my friends! sharmi thanks a lot for always keying me. also thanks to my hubby, for patiently taking me around the city, whenever i want to shop some props for blog and taste-testing all my ventures!!


Happy Birthday Rajinikanth!!

i intentionally started my blog on superstar's birthday!!

I prepared these sweets for diwali. will make a separate post on how to make carrot and apple sweet in few days. sorry for not posting with recipe.

Enjoy blogging, while i go now and catch up BABA movie.

I love to prepare one pot meal quite often. one thing i love about it is, kitchen turns less messy while i prepare one pot meal, especially this easy chana biryani. though named as biryani, not much effort goes in like in biryani. this protein packed biryani is so easy to make and makes a good choice for lunch box. my kid always love this.

Soup song, flop song - why this kolaveri kolaveri di??. first i did not understand the meaning of what is soup song, then wiki helped me as it always do. yes kolaveri viral attacked me too. so from soup song to cream of tomato soup...



I already have posted tomato soup recipe, but i got inspired to try out in a new way from a pic that siri posted on her photo blog. along with the inspiration married with tarla dalal recipe gave a perfect soup just like we have in restaurant. me and my son liked most, though i prepared this soup to start our meal, we finished the meal with just soup and bread.


I added lots of herbs like oregano, basil and rosemary. you may add whatever herbs your are available with. but i tell you, adding oregano(karpooravalli) and basil(thulasi) really made us feel better when we suffered from cold.

Ingredients:
serves 2 adults

set 1:

Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Cinnamon stick - 2'inch size
Cloves - 2

Ripe Red Tomatoes - 3 large one's
Garlic - 3 cloves
Beetroot - a small slice

set 2:

Butter - 1 tbsp
Maida / All purpose flour - 1/2 tbsp
Water - 1 cup
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Fresh cream - 1/2 tbsp

Herbs to add:

1/2 tsp oregano(karpooravalli)
1/2 tsp basil(thulasi)
1/2 tsp rosemary

Method:

In a wide pan, add olive oil, cloves, cinnamon and garlic. saute them all together. now add beetroot slice and arrange the tomatoes cut into half horizontally over the pan so that olive oil coats all the tomatoes base part. sprinkle salt and herbs over the tomatoes. let them get sauteed in medium flame for about 3-5 minutes. in between, turn the tomatoes upside down so that either side gets sauteed. when the tomatoes peel their skin off, remove from flame and let it cool.

(or) using microwave,

In a Microwave safe bowl, add 1tbsp olive oil, cinnamon, cloves and microwave for 30 secs at high power.
Cut the tomatoes into half,  horizontally. place the tomatoes in the bowl so that tomatoes sits over the olive oil. add beetroot slice and garlic. sprinkle little salt and choice of your herbs over the tomatoes. microwave for 2 minutes and 30 seconds at high power. the tomatoes would have peeled off their skin by now and looks juicy. cool them all.


Remove the cinnamon, cloves and tomatoes skin, discard them. grind the tomatoes along with beet and garlic  with 1/4 cup of water into a smooth puree. if herbs added, herbs wont be grounded smoothly.

Heat a pan, add butter and let it melt, then add maida / all purpose flour and fry it for 30 second on slow flame. then add the grounded tomato puree to the pan and give a stir. add 1/2 cup water, salt to taste and little pepper powder. give the soup a mix and let the soup boil for few minutes in slow flame. remember to keep stirring in between. soup gets thicker so its enough to boil for 2-3 mins.

Remove the soup from flame, add pepper powder according to your taste. add fresh cream(1 tbsp is very much enough). and give a mix.

serve hot with bread of your choice.


its been my nightmare to draw white circles with cream on top of soups. finally i made it. i just added 2 spoons of fresh cream to milk cover and i chopped the corner of it, like we chop our mehendi cone and drawed circles. next time i have to experiment more shapes.

before this month ends i made a post, phew...lots come in between planning and execution, including my great laziness and facebook hops.

I made few changes to Paneer butter masala and got this recipe. its so simple recipe and also it tastes so so good. my words and the pictures may not do justice to the dish. You have to try and find how tasty this gravy turns out.


Oh this time i'am trying out with step by step pictures. i am finding very difficult to handle the camera on one hand and ladle on other. sometimes hot smoke hits the camera lens, it was a new experience to me. i salute blogger's who make step wise pictures on every post!! without any more excessive talk, i will take you straight to the recipe.




Ingredients:

for 100gms of Paneer and 1/4 cup of Green peas.

set 1:

2 medium sized onions
2 medium sized tomatoes
1/4 cup corriander leaves
4 - 6 cashews (depending on size)
a pinch of turmeric powder
1 tsp of kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp oil
1/8 cup water
salt to taste

set 2:

1 onion of very small size (or) 2 tbsp's finely chopped onions
1/2 + 1/2 tsp of kasuri methi
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp butter
1 tsp fresh cream
1 tsp oil
chopped corriander leaves to garnish

Method:

(1) De-frost the Paneer either by soaking the paneer with its wrapper in a bowl of water for about 30 mins or microwave the paneer for 1 minute at high power.

(2) Boil 1/4 cup of green peas in 1/4 cup of water or alternatively microwave for 4 to 5 minutes.

with set 1:

(3) Heat a deep pan, add one tsp of oil, add onions and fry till it turns light pink and translucent. Add cashews to the pan and saute it for a minute.


(4) Add chopped tomatoes to the pan and saute it together with onions. add salt to taste, turmeric powder and kashmiri chilli powder. mix them all together till they become soft. remove it from flame, add corriander leaves and mix all together. then let all cool down for 10 minutes.


(5) On cooling, transfer them to a mixie jar and grind into a smooth paste by adding 1/8 cup of water.


with set 2:

(6) Heat another pan, add one tsp of oil, following it add very finely chopped onion. fry it till it turns light brown. Add 1/2  tsp of kasuri methi, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder and mix them all together.


(7) Now add the grounded smooth paste to the pan and give a mix. Gravy changes in colour. Now add Paneer cubes and green peas to the pan and give a mix. also wash of the mixie jar with little water so that not even little grounded paste is left-over, and add it to the pan. (anjali, i updated this line for you, sorry for not including earlier, i assumed every one will do that).


(8) Add 1 tsp of butter and mix. close the pan with its lid, put the pan in medium flame for about 5 minutes.

(9) After 5-6 mins, oil seperates from the gravy and the gravy changes colour, switch off the flame. add 1/2 tsp of kasuri methi and 1 tsp of fresh cream.

Garnish with corriander leaves and fresh cream.


Serve with chapathis or roti's.

Notes:

- Key taste maker of this gravy is kasuri methi and butter. so do not skip it.
- Adding fresh cream and cashews is optional. though the gravy wont be creamy.
- No spices are added to the gravy which makes easy on digestion.
- I also suggest you not to skip corriander leaves.