Creamy Tomato Pasta

Any colored pasta turns into a orange/red hued one as soon as it hits my husband's plate. He adds oodles of tomato based condiments to his pasta and tells me that he is making it more flavorful. I stopped complaining long ago and keep making tomato based pastas more often instead. Today's recipe is the standard one I make but added some evaporated milk to make it creamier. I used evaporated milk instead of cream / milk just because I had some leftover evaporated milk that had to be used. The evaporated milk lends a nice, creamy background for the tomato sauce based pasta and makes it more flavorful. I used twisted elbows that was a carrot, corn, squash pasta blend. Penne, shell pasta or any long pasta can be substituted for elbow pasta.

Ingredients:
1 & 1/2 cups twisted elbows
1 to 2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely minced
8 oz / 225 gm / 1 cup tomato sauce (I used store-bought sauce.)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
About 1/2 cup evaporated milk / cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (optional)
Chopped basil leaves to garnish (optional)

Method:
* Heat oil in a saute pan and add minced garlic and onion. Saute until light golden. Add tomato sauce and ground pepper to the pan and let it simmer on low flame, just to let the flavor build up. Taste and adjust the salt if needed.
* Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander and return it back to the pot in which it was cooked. Add evaporated milk or cream and gently give a stir to mix.
* Pour the tomato sauce mixture over the pasta and stir to combine.
* Garnish with Parmesan and basil and serve warm.

This goes to Blogging Marathon #50, under the theme of "Pasta". Check out the link to find out what other marathoners are cooking.

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F ~ Farfalle in Lemony - Creamy Sauce

Event: Blogging Marathon #32
Theme: International / Fusion Foods

Farfalle pronounced as fur-fell-ay originated in Italy centuries ago and is commonly known as bow-tie pasta because of it's shape. The name 'farfalle' is derived from the Italian word 'farfalla' meaning butterfly and so thus the word farfalle literally means butterflies. I had prepared this farfalle version after seeing it on a cook show and the whole family enjoyed it. The subtle lemon flavor and kick from chili - pepper combination makes this pasta dish special.

Ingredients: (2 servings)
2 cups farfalle
Salt accordingly
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 fresh red chillie, chopped fine
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup cream (or substitute half the quantity with milk.)
5 - 6 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Juice squeezed from half lemon (or adjust as needed.)
Crushed black pepper
Minced parsley to garnish

Method:
* Cook farfalle al dente adding salt, according to package directions.
* Heat oil and add red chillie. Saute for a few seconds and add cooked farfalle, lemon zest and cream. Cook for a minute and then add cheese. Cook until the cheese is incorporated into the mixture. Stir in lemon juice. Sprinkle black pepper, garnish with cilantro and serve. Go easy with pepper since the recipe has a chillie in it.

Check the blogging marathon page for the other marathoners doing BM #32. And logo courtesy - Preeti


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Delectable Dal Makhani

                   Dal Makhani literally means buttery lentils.

I did my spring-cleaning and cleared almost all the clutter from every nook and corner of our home, before my parents arrived. However, some ingredients from the pantry were begging to be cleared off. One among those was a cup of black urad dal bottled up, may be for years now after sunnundalu preparation.
Nupur's dal makhani seemed a nice way to use up that left over urad dal, to check one of the recipes from my 'bookmarked' folder and also to participate in this month's 'Blog bites - What's lurking in the kitchen'.
Dal makhani, one of the delectable sidedishes from the Punjab region of India also happens to be one of my favorite ones. However, I usually reserve this rich and creamy dish to those occasions when I dine out. To watch oodles of butter and cream going into a dish while cooking, (however favorite that may be) would give me a heart attack. Keeping apart my reservations, those butter and cream lend the flavor and richness to the dish and protein packed dal makhani happens to be one of the popular and standard items on Indian restaurant menus, here in this country.
Preparing dal makhani is a simple task and even a novice cook can master it. Urad dal with the black husk (not the skinned* ones), rajma, chana / garbanzo beans are soaked and cooked till they attain a creamier texture. Also in go the spices, butter and cream resulting in a palate pleasing dal.
This was a decent recipe that contained less amounts of butter & cream. 

Ingredients used:
Black uraddal (uraddal with skin) - 1/2 cup
Rajma / kidney beans - 1/2 cup
Chanadal - 1/4 cup
Tomato puree / tomato paste - 2 cups
Heavy cream - 1/4 cup
Butter 1 -2 Tbsp
Ginger paste / finely minced ginger - 1 tsp
Chili powder - 1 tsp (or as needed)
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
For tadka: 2 tsp oil, 1 tsp. cumin seeds, a pinch of asafoetida, 8-10 fenugreek seeds
(I doubled the recipe to serve us twice, about 10 - 12 servings to serve with rotis. I omitted the garlic from the original recipe, used about 12 oz tomato paste, homemade garam masala and about 3 tsp of chili powder in the doubled recipe.)

Cooking method:
1. Soak overnight (or as needed) the red kidney beans, black urad dal and chana dal. Throw away the soaked water and wash the legumes thoroughly. (Freeze the legumes, if using later.) Pressure cook them together and mash coarsely.
2. Heat the oil and add the minced ginger. When it starts to brown, add cumin seeds, asafoetida and the fenugreek seeds. When cumin starts to splutter, add the tomato puree. Cook the mixture for about ten minutes or till the tomato appears cooked, stirring often.
3. Add the cooked legumes and salt to the tomato mixture and bring to a boil. If it appears too thick, add a few Tbsp of water.
4. Stir in red chilli powder, garam masala, heavy cream and 1 tbsp. butter. Simmer for 5-10 minutes and turn off the heat.

Our dal makhani was served with rotis, along with onion slices and lemon wedges.

* Skinned - Skin/husk removed

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Creamy ~ Dreamy Subzis - Methi Matar Malai

In a nutshell, Methi matar malai is a delectable indulgence that needs basic cooking skills. This delightful subzi from the Northern region of India has a flavorful combination of aromatic methi leaves, sweet peas, rich cream and spices.
This is a quick and simple subzi to prepare. However, the rich, creamy dish gives the impression that you have slaved longer in the kitchen. Plan therefore to cook this when you have invited guests or need to pass on the chore of doing dishes to the other adult at home. :)



Ingredients required for 3 servings:
Methi leaves / Fenugreek greens - 2 cups, firmly packed
Matar / Green peas, boiled - 3/4 cup (substitute - frozen peas)
Malai / Cream - 1/2 cup
1 Tbsp oil / butter
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp coriander powder
For paste:  Grind the following ingredients into a paste adding a little water if needed.
2 (small sized) onions + 1 inch ginger piece + 2 green chilies (I used Serrano peppers and if using other variety, adjust the quantity)
For powder: Powder the following ingredients in a spice grinder.
6 cashews + cardamom seeds from a pod + 2 cloves + 1 inch piece cinnamon + 6 pepper corns

(You can grind the paste + powder ingredients together. I avoid it since spices don't grind well with the wet ingredients.)

Cooking method:
Heat oil and add cumin seeds. When they start to sizzle and turn a shade darker, add the onion paste and fry on low flame till the raw smell of the paste disappears. It would take around 6 - 8 minutes.
Then add the methi, turmeric powder & also 1/4 cup water to the cooked paste. Continue to cook on low flame for about 5 minutes and then add the peas, powdered ingredients, sugar, salt and coriander powder. Mix well and cook till methi leaves are done. Add a tablespoon of water (or more) if the mixture starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the cream at the end and simmer for a couple of minutes and turn off the stove.
Serve hot with rotis.



Recipe Source: Box of matar methi malai sold commercially. Though I refuse, my husband keeps stuffing our pantry with those commercially sold, popular brand, boxed subzis in the name of convenience. I have prepared this subzi earlier going on by my instincts. This time, I went basically with the ingredients mentioned behind the box, substituting for some of the ingredients to suit me. For example, I went with cashews instead of wheat flour.

This goes to EFM - Parathas and Gravies / Curries Series hosted by Srilekha.

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