Roasted Garlic And Red Bellpepper Pasta Sauce

Oh! I love Italian food.  I adore their cuisine and culture so much that I wish I was an Italian (well sometime). The way they move their hands when they talk, or their food- basil, oregano, tomatoes, garlic...hmm everything. I would love to have pizza, pasta, cheese and wine everyday. So this states my love for Italian food -right??

Back in India I ate just two types of pasta, in red and  white sauce. Only after coming to the UK I tasted other pasta sauces as well, like pesto, garlic, wine, pepper and many more. Slowly my affection for pasta hiked and I began experimenting many pasta recipes at home. Although I have to say that I have restricted my dishes to mainly using Penne / Spaghetti/ Fussili ;and today I learned that there are 600 different shapes of Pasta ... Wow !! Long Long way to go .

Pasta can be of various shapes and sizes but it is the sauce that matters. Here you get pasta sauces readymade available in the market but I hardly buy them. And the reasons are as follows:-

• I hate addition of preservatives. Fresh is better :-)
• I find the taste very pale and dull. All I see is oil....grhhhh!!
• I cook pasta a lot thus I cant afford those tini-tiny jars every time.

Anyhow, even though basic tomato pasta sauce gets ready quickly; but there are times when I am in hurry and I need sauce immediately for a quick meal. After searching a lot on the net, I came to the conclusion that I can very well make my own pasta sauce and freeze it for the future use. 

Roasted red bellpepper mingled with garlic are absolutely and positively something that you will love- I bet! The colour, aroma, taste- perfect balance. I bestowed it with the Indian touch -infusion of bayleaf, cloves, turmeric and black pepper  surly upgrades it to the next level. I make a huge batch of this sauce, easily doubling and tripling the recipe. It freezes well and also becomes the base of a lot of my pasta dishes and sometimes on my pizza crust as well.

Ingredients:

Red Bellpepper chopped- 4

Tomato- 2

Onion chopped- 1

Garlic pods- 8-10

Bayleaf- 1

Black peppercorns- 5

Cloves- 2

Lemon Juice- 2 tablespoons

Sugar- 2 tablespoons

Turmeric- 1/4 teaspoon

Dried oregano- 1/2 teaspoon

Dried Basil- 1/4 teaspoon

Olive oil- 2 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180C.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil. Mix garlic, bellpeppers, bayleaf, peppercorn and 1tbsp olive oil. Grill in the oven at 180C for 30 minutes.
3. Slit tomatoes in between and boil in 1 cup of water and cloves till soft and tender.
4. Heat remaining oil in a pan. Add chopped onions and cook till translucent.
5. Put boiled tomato in a bowl and mash lightly with a fork. 
6. Mix roasted bellpepper, garlic and tomatoes with onions.
7. On meduim heat keep mixing and add all the remaining ingredients. Mix till water evaporates and you have lumpy mixture ready.
8. Let it cool and then store in sterilized jars.

Notes:

This can be kept in the freezer for 2-3 weeks.

If in hurry, just chop the tomatoes finely and mix when onions gets soft. Keep cooking till tomatoes leaves water and turns mushy.

It can be served as chutney with sandwiches, crackers or biscuits.

Taste:

Tangy and sweet.

Gond Ladoos, Must Have Sweet In The Winters

Before I move ahead, I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year. May this year adds loads of happiness and smiles in your lives. So, where was I? Well, I went to India in November for a month. India is always so much fun- meeting everyone, shopping and above all eating delicious food. *happy dance*

After coming back, I was down with fever and jetlag added spice to my suffering. I was literally waking up at 4am, feeling hungry at odd times and missing home and family a lot. Now, after 2 weeks I feel normal and adjusted to normal routine. The very first thing that I wanted to regulate soon was blogging. So here I am back with a sweet feast for the new beginning.

Gond Ke Ladoo, is a traditional Rajasthani sweet.'Gond' is the edible gum which is in crystal form in pearly yellowish translucent pieces of different sizes. This edible gum generates heat and that is why it is usually consumed in the winters. It comforts one as it helps to keep the body warm. Gond is fried in ghee, puffed up and added to roasted wheat flour to make Ladoos.

While coming back from India, my mom packed these ladoos for me. Trust me these are so purposive in the harsh cold winters of the UK. To boost its goodness my mom added dry fruits.The roasted aroma of nuts enhances the taste and exposes out that missing crunch. So, here I share with you all my mom’s special recipe.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour/ Atta, 1 1/4 cup

Edible Gum/Gond/Khatira- 3 Tablespoons

Powdered Sugar- 1/2 cup

Black pepper powder- 1/4 teaspoon

Cardamom Powder,-1/2 teaspoon

Ghee, 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Mixed Nuts (cashew, almonds and raisins)- 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Heat 1/4 cup of ghee in a pan, add edible gum and fry till it is puffed up. Remove it from the pan and then drain excess ghee and roughly break them to pieces with a rolling pin and set them aside.
2. In the same pan add 2 tablespoon of ghee and roast all the nuts for 1 minute or till they become nice brown. Set aside.
3. Now, on a low-medium flame, heat the remaining ghee and add the wheat flour and roast it, stirring continuously till the flour starts to change its color. 
4. Turn off the heat. Let it cool lightly so that it is comfortable to handle. 
5. To the above roasted flour, add the crushed edible gum,black pepper powder, nuts, powdered sugar, cardamom powder, mix well. 
6. Take this mixture and shape them into ladoos of the size you want.

Notes:

If you find it difficult to shape ladoos then you can add some melted ghee and then shape them.

Store them in air tight container. It does not spoil for 2-3 months.

It also acts as a very good travel food.

Taste:

Sweet, crunchy and warm.