Easy To Make Classic Marinara Sauce – Stepwise

Hello!

Last few days have been the most hectic days of my life. There was blog related work, food events, prepping for the festival of lights and the regular family chores. It was really very tiring especially when my body is fighting severe infection and has been put on strong dosage of antibiotics for a prolonged period, but that didn’t falter my spirit and eventually I did manage to finish most of the things on time. But in all this I could not find time to sit and write a blog post which I actually love the most.

I believe I type very slow and that’s probably the reason that I spend a lot of time finishing  a post. If you have any tips on improving the typing speed, I am all ears. Leave me a note in the comment box or just shoot me a mail at cookingoodfood@gmail.com

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How To Make Restaurant Style Makhani Gravy For Curries| Step Wise | मखनी ग्रेवी रेस्तराँ स्टाइल

Makhani sauce, as the name suggests is a sauce made in makkhan (butter). It is a delicately flavoured sauce which has a taste of tomatoes, aromatic spices, butter and cream.

It’s a rich gravy, loaded with calories but extremely flavourful and very popular. One can find it dominating the menu cards of any Indian Restaurant serving North Indian Food. As a child it was my favourite and now it is my kid’s. I make both the low and high calorie version of it but here I’m sharing the high calorie version. If you want to try a low calorie version, check here.

This sauce is popularly used to make paneer (paneer makhani), dal (dal makhani), vegetables (veg makhani). One can check out my innovation with this sauce here.

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Bundt Garlic- Parmesan Pull Apart Bread With Tomato-Parsley Sauce, Step Wise & The New Winner Of ‘Only’ Mangoes

Hi!
There are certain recipes that captures one’s attention the first time one reads it and then one gets desperate to try it. One such recipe that instantly clicked in my heart and brain was the Bundt Garlic and Parmesan Pull Apart Bread made by Pastry Affair.

I believe that when one read’s a recipe, one eats it first through one’s eyes, then imagine the flavors mentally and when finally, one tries it in their kitchen the virtual image turns into a physical reality. I truly followed the sequence this time. I was awed by the picture and technique and imagined the flavors and I was so desperate to try it that creating the  physical reality also happened very fast.

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Soft Mango Ice Cream With Tucmaria & Menthol Sauce

 

Hi All!

Let me start by thanking all of you for appreciating my previous post, Braided Corn and Coriander Puff. I’m glad to tell you that this post got the highest number of hits till date, on the first day of posting, here on Foodelicious.

Everyone in India is thoroughly enjoying the mango season and I’m no exception. I have made use of mango in various ways like chutney, panha, milkshake and so on.. Recently I got hold of very good quality Alphonso mango and  decided to make Ice Cream. I made a very basic Ice Cream using the condensed milk. The condensed milk provides good flavor, thickness, creaminess and volume to the Ice Cream.

To go along with the Ice cream, I made a Tucmaria and Menthol sauce. Tucmaria or Subja are seeds of holy basil. These seeds do not have a flavor of their own but are good digestive in this heat. I added menthol extract to add the cooling flavor to the sauce. The menthol itself is very good in this heat at the same time it reduces throat irritation.

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Pasta in Roasted Veggie Sauce..a hit with my kid and his friends

Hi.

Making an interesting lunch box for children is an ever daunting task we all mothers have. We all know that the kids love eating junk food and snacks and will finish that easily  as compared to the meals and my kid is surely and easily one of them. So it’s always challenging and interesting to innovate dishes which appear fast food but still are very healthy.

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Crispy Salsa Cubes…a delicious starter/ Party Food/ Step Wise

Hi all!

Thanks for all the wishes that you wrote for me, I’m feeling much better now.

Today I’m posting a very quick to make starter which is extremely tasty and was loved by my family. The original recipe is from a cookery show and I had managed to pen down the recipe. In the original recipe once the basic starter was made many more sauces and chips were added and I personally found it messy to be served especially when one believes that the starters are finger foods and should be less messy. I have improvised the preparation in my way and the end product, of which I was very sceptical, turned out really good, so I thought of sharing it with every one.

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Bi Coloured Italian Sandwich

 

Hi all!

Hope all my friends had a great valentine’s day. Today I am posting a very filling, healthy, attractive sandwich which was an instant hit with my family.

Sandwich is normally a term used to describe one or two bread slices with one or more fillings in between them. One can make so many variations by changing the fillings. There’s an interesting story behind ‘why sandwiches are called a sandwich’. Sandwiches are called "sandwiches" after John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. The story is that he was such an avid gambler that he refused to break for meals, asking instead that cold meat on bread be brought to him so he could eat while continuing to gamble.

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Healthy Baked Vegetable With Broccoli & Cauliflower

Hi!

Blogging has made me quite a passionate baker, whether it’s baking bread, cake or a vegetable, I surely get hooked. With winter hitting our bones in this part of India, cooking can be torturous at times especially when the tap water is at the freezing point, one does not feel like touching it.

I indulge in quick cooking using a lot of vegetables these days as I am surely overwhelmed looking at the variety available and one such vegetable surely is broccoli which has finally come to a rate where common man can buy it easily and use in abundance.

It was quite some time that my family had a baked vegetable so thought of making a baked vegetable using broccoli. A soup, garlic bread and baked vegetable was on the menu. I just loved the idea that my kids would eat so many vegetables.

I made a healthy white sauce to make my baked vegetable, I call this sauce healthy as I used low fat butter, whole wheat flour to make it. Believe me one does not miss out using APF here, I find this sauce quite tasty. I personally love the white sauce less thick, one can make a thicker version. So here goes the recipe..

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Teddie Pasta and Veggies in Tomatoey Cheese Sauce and ‘Only’ Series Event Announcement

Hi friends!

I feel glad to announce that I am starting off with ‘ONLY’ series from this month onwards. Every month I will pick up a new topic thus enabling us to innovate more recipes. For this month the topic is “KIDS DELIGHT”.

Kids are a source of inspiration to our cooking as we really have to think hard to provide a tasty and at the same time nutritional food to them, so that they are nourished properly. So feel free to make any kids friendly recipe, which you believe will provide a balanced diet and at the same time will pamper their taste buds too.

Though this  is a vegetarian  blog I will accept non-veg entries also as many kids only eat non-veg. Send in your fresh entries (no limit) but I will accept only two archived posts if reposted. E-mail  to cookingoodfood@gmail.com  with the Subject- Kids Delight   in the following format:-

Your Name

Blog’s Name

Recipe link

Picture of size 350pixel

Link back your post to the event page. Use of logo is Mandatory as it helps spread the word. Non bloggers can also participate, just send in your entry and picture to the above mentioned email and I will post your recipes in my space.

Here is the list of people hosting the events for the next few months.

Month Host Theme Round Up August’10 Pari Only-Kids-Delight      Part I      Part II Sept’10 Piya(Yallapantula) Mitharwal Only-Low Oil/ Low Calorie Food      Part I October’10 Preeti Binniwale Only-Festive Food      Part I Nov’10 Pari Only- Chaat      Part I Dec’10 Saraswathi Iyer Only- Greens Jan’11 Prathibha Garre Only- Salad Feb’11 Pari Only-Cooking with Bread March’11 Nivedita Only-Original Recipes April’11 Only- Fusion Cooking May’11 Nayana Kanabar Only- Coolers and Mocktails June’11 Reva Only- Ice-Creams July’11 Harini-Jaya Only- Baked

Coming to the recipe,

My kids love different shaped pastas, dino, mickey, teddie and so on. My co-sister keeps providing me with small goodie bags of these cute shaped  pastas. These are very light to digest and extremely easy to cook. My job is to make different kinds of sauce and add the pasta to it. Earlier I have shared a recipe with dinosaurs pasta too.

Today, I share another very tasty and hassle free preparation and is loved by my kids. The cheese sauce is very simple to make and the addition of tomato puree gives it a mild tomatoey flavor and a beautiful color. I have kept the spice level and flavors as per my child’s palate, one is free to make suitable changes.

I had made this for my kids lunch but this can also make a heavy evening snack too. My kid loved it and to my delight did not even observe that there were veggies going in it which were beautifully hidden under the thick cheese sauce.

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups milk

5-6 cheese slices

1 tsp butter

3-4 tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp white pepper pwd

1 tsp oregano

a large pinch nutmeg pwd

a few celery leaves

about 3 cups boiled pasta (I used mickey shaped)

mixed veggies cut into triangles ( I used zucchini and colored bell peppers)

1 garlic pod finely chopped

1/2 onion finely chopped

about 1/2 cup grated mozzarella-cheddar cheese

Method

Boil the pasta as per the directions given on the pack.

Remove it in a colander and pour cold water on it.

 

In a pan tip in the veggies and drizzle a few drops of oil, some salt and pepper and cook for a min.

Heat butter in a pan and add garlic to it followed by chopped onion and saute lightly (do not let it brown).

Add the milk and bring it to a boil.

Add the  white pepper, oregano, celery and nutmeg.

 

Mix thoroughly.

Add the cheese slices and tomato puree, let the sauce thicken.

Mix the cooked pasta in it.

Grease a baking dish and pour the pasta. Top it with the veggies followed by grated cheese.



Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes/ or till the cheese melts.

   
Serve it hot with some garlic bread.

This is my first entry to my event and also sending it to Mita’s  MM- party treat event guest hosted by Saraswathi of Sara’s corner.

Baked Fusilli in Marinara and Healthy-Spinachy Bechamel Sauce

Hi friends.

The word Italian brings in the thought of Pizza, pasta, risotto, wine….and Cheese to my mind. Ritu Dalmia who is a famous Italian Chef and her show Italian Khana is never complete without the description of the famous Italian wines. Now I am surely not a person who has any knowledge and inclination for wine but I surely have an interest for the cuisine so I do watch the show for the food and the humour.

Today I take you to the world of baking with a very tasty and healthy Italian recipe. Italian cuisine has become very popular amongst the young and the old so how can my family be spared. We were planning to enjoy an Italian buffet in a place called Fresco but our plans have got delayed and postponed. I had not baked for a while and the upcoming baker in me was asking me to bake and I surely wanted to cook Italian for my elder one as he is quite fond of Italian cuisine. So one of these days I made this recipe to please everyone and the baker in me.

The journey of cooking this was satisfying as the baked dish surely smelled good. My elder one who kept asking me questions through out his eating…which sauce is this, what have you put in that, which cheese have you put in that? The not so confident me kept answering his questions and then at the end I asked him, why are you asking me so many questions? It’s very nice Mummy, that’s why,  is what I heard. So I was all collar’s up at the end!!!!

Now that I have boasted so much about the recipe and myself let me tell you the ingredients and the method..

Ingredients

2 cups boiled Fusilli (the screw shaped pasta, I used made Durum wheat pasta)

100 gm grated cheese

for Marinara sauce……

1 large onion chopped

3 garlic pods

1/2 inch piece ginger

2 tomatoes chopped

5-6 tbsp tomato puree

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp freshly crushed pepper

1/2 tsp chili flakes

salt to taste

evoo for cooking

for spinachy- bechamel sauce (white sauce)…

25 leaves of spinach blanched

7-8 spoons of whole wheat flour

about a cup of milk

1/2 cup of water

salt to taste

freshly crushed pepper

4 tbsp home made butter

Method

Boil the Fusilli in 6-7 cups of water with some salt and a few drops of oil.

For the Marinara sauce..

First take the onions in the pan and then pour EVOO over it, this avoids overheating of the oil and it losing it’s valuable properties. Saute the onions and add crushed or finely chopped ginger-garlic. Cook till the raw smell disappears.

Now add the tomatoes, salt and sugar.

Once the tomatoes are cooked add the tomato puree and the herbs. Mix and switch off the flame.

 For Spinachy- Bechamel sauce

In a pan take the butter and add the wheat flour. Roast for a minute but do not let the colour change. Mix the water and milk and add this to the wheat flour stirring continuously so that no lumps are formed. This process has to be done fast so I could not take the pics. Unlike the white sauce made with APF this sauce does not thicken a lot on cooling so one must keep that in mind while making the sauce and checking it’s consistency. Season with salt and black pepper.

Blanch the spinach leaves.

Grind the leaves and add it in the bechamel sauce.


Now we start the layering.
Grease a baking dish. Spread the first layer ..that’s the marinara sauce.

Above the marinara sauce spread the second layer..that’s of fusilli.

Now comes the third layer …spinachy white sauce/ spinachy bechamel sauce.

Finally the cheese..spread the layer of processed cheese or cheese of your choice.

Bake the dish at 200C for about 15 mins or till the top layer melts.




Sending this healthy and tasty preparation to Arundhuti’s Gourmet affair as this was made and served with loads of love to my family & to CFK-Creative food for picky fussy eaters hosted by Sara’s corner and the brainchild of Sharmi, as I found this a very healthy way of adding spinach and other veggies to their diet.

A Kiddies Delight- Dinosaurs Pasta in a Vegetable Medley

I was in a mood to fix a quick Sunday breakfast for the kids, as I had to start shopping for FIL’s 80th b’day which I have to attend this month end in Bangalore. Last few days were very low for us and since the younger one seemed a little okay, and he had got the kind little nod from the doc, that he could have some whole wheat pasta made in little oil, I indulged myself in making some dinosaur shaped pasta for him. A treat for him after 3 weeks of stringent diet regime.

This is a very simple recipe, very quick to make and a complete heart winner with the kids. One can use any pasta of their choice, I used the dinosaur shaped ones as my younger one is very fond of it. I used fresh herbs, no artificial flavorings, a little olive oil and spiced with a little freshly ground pepper. We got a pasta with all natural and prominent flavors.

Ingredients
21/2 cups of boiled pasta
2 onions chopped
4 tomatoes chopped
2 large garlic cloves  chopped
1 green or any colored capsicum chopped
3-4 mushrooms washed and sliced
1/2 carrot peeled and grated
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2-3 tsp chopped celery
a large pinch of ajwain or carom seeds or oregano
salt to taste
1/2 tsp sugar
3-4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
parsley to garnish
Method

Take a large pan and take enough and more water to boil the pasta. One should remember that Pasta almost doubles in volume after cooking. Add 2 tsp oil and some salt to the water. When the water starts boiling add about 11/2 cups of pasta and cook ‘Al Dente’. It means it is tender but with firm resistance to the bite.

Once cooked remove in a colander and pour cold water on it and keep aside. This prevents the Pasta from sticking each other.

Heat olive oil in a pan and add chopped garlic. When it turns brown add the onions and cook till translucent. Now add chopped celery, carom seeds (I added this as they are good for gastric discomfort), carrot, tomatoes, salt and sugar. Cook till tomatoes are done and has a saucy texture.

Now add the pasta, capsicum, pepper pwd and toss it in the sauce properly for 2-3 mins max. Do not overcook, else you loose all natural flavors and the sauce turns too thick. It should coat the pasta properly (ideally the pasta should be dipped in hot water before adding to the sauce).

Serve it hot with some parsley and grated cheese (I did not add that, as he still can’t have it).

Sending the pasta to Kids delight hosted by Srivalli at Spice Your Life to celebrate her blog’s first anniversary.

And to  “Just not any other dish” hosted by My experiments with cooking @ cooking demystified, as this is a special meal for my child, for whom it is like the first step taken towards  normal eating after a very long duration. So, this Pasta is very special for him and for me too.