PASTA IN ARRABIATA SAUCE

SP was my neighbour at Mysore and also my very good friend.  We’d plonk ourselves at each others’ house, talking for hours together. Food would be one of the prominent topics but never cooking. We entered the kitchen only in search of food back then. What a pity! Now that we are in two different cities, we send each other pictures and recipes of food we’ve cooked; admiring and drooling and whining at the same time. We are always hungry and the pictures are always sent when we are the hungriest!

SP had sent me the recipe for Pasta Cooked in Arrabiata Sauce last year and she claimed it was “super yummy”. I had saved the recipe in some random folder knowing I’d never cook this as none of us at home likes red sauce.

Skip loves Pasta so Mamma has given me two packets of uncooked Pasta with strict instructions to cook it for her “little Prince”. *eye-roll*

Last Friday, I got back home a bit early, in a mood to get a Chop Chop Chow dish ready. Skip was at home, so I decided to cook Pasta. I remembered SP’s recipe and for a change decided to make a red sauce. I went through the ingredients; the list looked so simple, I wondered if the sauce would end up tasting like tomato puree.

I’ve made minor changes to the original recipe and even after I was done, was sceptical of the dish. So I added grated cheese on it (one can’t go wrong with cheese) and we all sat to eat.

SP, you were right! The dish is “SUPER YUMMY”. And this is coming from people who dislike red sauce. The dish was light (unlike the one cooked in white sauce), the sauce tastes fresh and bursting with flavours of oregano, tangy and sweet tomatoes, cheese and garlic. The dish is healthier as compared to the white sauce that has generous portions of butter, flour, cream and cheese.

Sky insists that I henceforth cook pasta with red sauce. I have added red bell pepper and mushroom to the pasta. Feel free to add olives, baby corn, zucchini, broccoli or other crunchy vegetables to it.

PASTA IN ARRABIATA SAUCE (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

Pasta – 200 gms (I used Rotini)

Water - 2 cups

Pinch of salt, dash of oil

For the Arrabiata Sauce:

Tomatoes (small-medium sized) – 6

Olive oil- 1 ½ tbsp

Chilli Flakes – 1 tbsp

Chopped garlic – 8-9 cloves

Mixed herbs (oregano) – 1 tsp

Basil Powder/ Fresh Basil – 1 tsp

Sugar – 2 tsps (or as per taste)

Salt – as per taste

Pepper – ¼ tsp

Cornflour – 1 tsp

Cream – 2 tsp (optional)

Other Ingredients

Olive oil- 2 tbsp

Chilli Flakes – 1/2 tbsp

Mixed herbs (oregano) – 1 tsp

Basil Powder/ Fresh Basil – 1 tsp

Mixed vegetables- 1 cup (I used mushrooms and red bell pepper)

Cheese (grated) – ½ cup

Salt – as per taste

Method:

1.      Heat 2 cups water and once it begins to boil, add the pasta to it along with a tsp of salt and few drops of oil. Once the pasta is cooked (under 10 minutes), drain the water and keep aside.

2.      For the Arrabiata sauce: Boil the tomatoes in water. When they are cooked, the skin begins to crack open.  Remove tomatoes off the heat. Cool them and peel. Put the tomatoes in the blender. Add 1 tsp each of salt and sugar and blend it.

3.      Heat olive oil in a pan. Add the herbs, basil, chilli flakes and pepper. Sauté for half a minute. Pour the tomato puree into the pan and cook for about 5 minutes.

4.      Dilute 1 tsp cornflour in 3 tbsp water and pour it to the above puree.

5.      Add the chopped garlic and cook for a few more minutes until the sauce thickens.

6.      Add the cream and swirl the sauce slightly. (Taste the sauce at this point and add more salt and sugar if required)

7.      Turn off flame and keep aside.

8.      In another pan, heat olive oil. Add the herbs, basil, chilli flakes and pepper. Sauté for half a minute.

9.      Add the mushrooms and cook on high flame until the water is evaporated.

10. Add the bell pepper and sauté for a minute or two.

11. Pour the red sauce to the above pan with veggies and give it a good mix.

12. Add the cooked pasta and give it a good mix.

13.  Remove from pan and pour the pasta into the serving dish.

14. Sprinkle the grated cheese on the pasta.

15. Done.

Recipe notes:

·        The quantity of sugar and salt would vary depending on taste of the tomato sauce. Sugar is added to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. Use red, ripe tomatoes and not greenish, sour ones.

·        Quantity of the olive oil may be further reduced.

·        Instead of dried chilli flakes, you may also whole red chillies. Boil it along with the tomatoes and grind in blender.

·        Quantity of spices can be altered as per taste.

·        I haven’t added onions to the sauce. Bob adds finely chopped onions to it.

Egg Noodles with Chilly Chicken and Vinegared Cucumber

Here is another in the series of Chop Chop Chow – Egg Noodles with Chilly Chicken and Vinegared Cucumber. Sounds fancy right?

Instant noodles to the rescue! My favourite is Top Ramen. Which is your favourite brand of instant noodles?

Whenever I make noodles/fried rice, I serve it in individual bowls with the meat/veggies layered in the bowl with the noodles. Not only does it look tasteful, it is also taste-full. I then top it off with an egg with a side of vinegared sliced cucumber.

 It will not take you more than half an hour to prepare this meal.

So the next time you decide to make instant noodles at home, cook it with a twist. I boiled the noodles, drained the water and then sautéed them with onions and the readymade spice powder. This way you don’t have the spices getting diluted in water and the sautéed onions add an additional punch of sweetness and crunch to the noodles. You could cook the instant noodles as per the instructions but then it won’t be ‘fancy’ now, would it?

I have made Chilly Chicken to go with the noodles. The recipe is the exact same as the Chilly Paneer recipe. It is a simple recipe and can be cooked even by those who don’t eat chicken but may have to cook it for their better halves ;) Look at the lovely colour of the fried chicken. (I haven’t added any food colour to it). If you are a vegetarian, you can make Chilly Paneer and also skip the egg.

Skip and Sky like Bull’s Eye, I prefer scrambled egg in my noodles.

Skip and Sky do not like vinegared cucumbers much, but I add it anyhow for that “authentic Chinese” touch.

EGG NOODLES WITH CHILLY CHICKEN AND VINEGARED CUCUMBER (Serves 2)

NOODLES

Ingredients:

Instant Noodles – 3 packets

Water to boil the noodles

Medium sized onion – 1 (finely chopped)

Soy Sauce – 1 tsp

Tomato Ketchup – 2 tsp

Method:

1.      Cook the noodles al dente in water. Drain it, rinse it in cool water and keep aside.

2.   Fry the onions until they brown a bit. To the fried onions, add the readymade spice powder and mix it well. To this, add the soy sauce and tomato ketchup and mix well.

3.      Add the cooked noodles and mix until noodles are coated with the onion mixture.

4.      Done.

CHILLY CHICKEN

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken – 250 gms

Onion- 1 medium sized

Capsicum (Bell pepper) – 3/4^ths of it

Garlic – 6-7 cloves

Cornflour – 1 ½  tbsp

Maida (white flour) – 2 tbsps

Salt, pepper, red chilly powder – as needed

Soya sauce – 3/4^th tbsp

Tomato Ketchup – 1 ½ tbsp

Oil

Method:

1.      Add cornflour, white flour, half a teaspoon salt and pepper as per your taste into a bowl. Add a little water to make a fine paste.

2.      Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and add to the above ‘flour’ paste and coat it well. Set aside.

3.      Chop the onion, capsicum and garlic. Set aside.

4.      Shallow fry the chicken in oil until it is fully cooked and set aside.

5.      To the same pan, first, add onions and fry until they turn pinkish brown ( around 3-4 mins on medium flame)

6.      Next, add the capsicum and sauté until the edges start browning. ( 3 mins)

7.      Add the garlic. Sauté for a minute.

8.   Add the soya sauce and tomato ketchup and stir well until all ingredients are coated with the sauce.

9.   Add the pieces of chicken and quickly stir until the chicken is well coated. Sauté for 2 mins.

10. Add salt and chilly powder as per your taste. Sauté for a minute more.

11. Done.

VINEGARED CUCUMBER

Ingredients:

Cucumber – 1 (sliced)

Honey – 1 tbsp

Apple Cider Vinegar – 2 tbsp

Method:

1.      Mix the honey with the vinegar and add the sliced cucumbers into it. Set aside.

2.      Done.

ASSEMBLY

Add half the desired amount of noodles to the base of the bowl. Top it with chicken/paneer. Add another layer of noodles. Top it with the fried egg and add cucumbers to the side. (Do not pour the honey-vinegar mixture to the dish)

Recipe notes:

·        Do not add too much salt to the Chilly Chicken as Soy Sauce is also salty.

·        If you don’t have Apple Cider Vinegar, you may use white vinegar but reduce quantity to 1 ½ tbsp.

FRIED RICE + HONEY CHILLI POTATOES

Here’s the first in our series of ‘Chop-Chop Chow’. We have been getting requests to post recipes of quick and easy meals. It is easy to whip up a quick meal these days with all the gadgets available for quick and easy chopping ( I also see chopped vegetables being sold at some stores) and also with the availability of varied sauces, mixes and condiments that just need to be added to the main ingredient, poof, the meal is ready.

I decided to make fried rice. Husband and I love Chinese. I have been experimenting with fried rice and am still on the lookout for that “special” ingredient that makes fried rice taste like the way it does in restaurants. I know they use Ajinomoto (monosodium glutamate) at restaurants that gives that added flavour but I do not like using it. The recipe given below is for the fried rice that I usually make. But this time, I used a readymade Schezwan sauce. So instead of using the combo of soy sauce and ketchup, I just had to mix the rice with the Schezwan sauce (hence that colour)

I wouldn't recommend that 'Chinese Seasoning" 

As I was preparing the fried rice, I realised we needed an accompaniment to go along with it and decided to make Honey Chilli Potatoes.  These are recipes that I don’t have written in my book, so there is no fixed quantity of the ingredients used. It would vary depending on your taste.

FRIED RICE WITH HONEY CHILLI POTATOES (Serves 2)

FRIED RICE

Ingredients:

Cooked rice – 3 cups

Finely chopped onion – 1 (large)

Finely chopped Capsicum – ½ cup

Sliced Mushroom – 200 gms

Ground Garlic – 4-5 cloves

Vinegar – 1 tbsp

Soy Sauce -  2 tbsp

Tomato Ketchup – 3 tbsp  

Pepper – 2 tbsp

Salt – as per taste

Eggs – 2 (optional)

Method:

1.      Separate the rice grain with a fork and then fluff it up. Keep aside. 

2.      In a pan, cook the chopped onions till they turn pinkinsh brown.

3.      Add garlic and sauté.

4.   On high flame, add the mushrooms and cook until the water that it leaves is completely evaporated and the mushrooms have browned a bit. Add the capsicum and sauté for a bit.

5.     Add the cooked rice to the vegetables.

6.   To this add the soy sauce, ketchup and vinegar and stir until the rice is coated with these sauces.

7.      Add salt and sprinkle pepper at the end.

8.      Scramble the eggs separately and add to the fried rice.

HONEY CHILLI POTATOES

Ingredients:

Boiled Potatoes – 2 (large)

Chopped garlic – 4-5 cloves

Ground garlic- 4-5 cloves

Finely chopped Red chilli/Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Corn flour – 2 tbsp

Pureed tomato chilli sauce/ Sweet Chilli sauce – 1 tbsp

Vinegar – 1 tsp

Honey – 1 tbsp

Sesame seeds – 1 tsp

Method:

1.      Boil potatoes until almost done. Do not boil them until they are soft/squishy

2.      Once cooled, slice them.

3.     In a bowl, mix together the ground garlic, red chillies (I didn’t have red chillies, so I added chilli powder), corn flour and salt. Add a little water and make a thick paste. (Adjust the quantity of corn flour accordingly) Add the sliced potatoes and toss until mixture coats them.

4.    Heat oil in a frying pan over medium flame and fry the potatoes until they turn crispy.  Remove the potatoes from the pan and set aside on an absorbent paper.

5.   To the same pan, add the chopped garlic and sesame seeds and sauté for a minute.

6.    Add the potatoes and drizzle vinegar, chilli sauce and honey over the potatoes and toss well until fully coated. Turn off the heat.

7.     Done.

Recipe notes:

• ·     Day old rice is the best to make fried rice. I used freshly cooked rice and that turned out fine too.
•         You may add carrots, beans, cabbage and other vegetables to your fried rice. Just maintain the order while stir frying the vegetables. Vegetables that take longer to cook go in first. Just cook them all on high flame.
•     I have mentioned the quantity of the ingredients for the convenience of the reader but I just add them approximately to suit our taste.
•     I didn’t have most of the ingredients for the honey chilli potatoes. So I either skipped or substituted the ingredients as shown in the list of ingredients (I skipped the sesame seeds) and the dish still turned out great.
•       You need not deep fry the potatoes. I shallow fried them.
•       You could reduce/increase the quantity of garlic, chilly, honey to suit your taste.