Penne Arrabiata - a fuming, enraged pasta sauce, just kidding..

We don't eat out a lot as a family, it is a culture induced from BH's consulting days. He would be so bored of eating out regularly when he traveled on work that he would be craving for some home cooked meal and I loved to experiment, cook and feed, so it worked both ways. Whenever we go out, we try different cuisines almost avoiding Indian food in restaurants as they don't always measure up to our expectation of good Indian food. Then again, non Indian fare is a different ball game. Anything from American to Mexican to Italian to Thai to Chinese to Mediterranean with vegetarian choices is a welcome change. 

But things are changing as I started to cook recipes from World cuisines at home regularly especially since I started blogging. Sometimes we sit in the restaurant and the conversation gets centered around how I can recreate the recipe at home or how I can make it a tad bit healthier, spicier or anything else to make it personalized to our tastes. Case in point, we went to a Chinese resturant in town recently that all of BH's collegues were raving about and had a pretty decent Schezwan rice and an ok sort of vegetable masala noodles. DD who ordered the noodles for her main course said, 'Amma you make a much better Indo-Chinese noodles'. The narcissistic me always feels exhilarated by such praises but it also made me think if I was inculcating a habit in my daughter of not enjoying food else where outside of home. See, I worry about the time when she goes off to college in a few years and has to survive on the tight string student budget and find good things to eat in the college cafeteria? But then she turns around and tells me that her L mama made the best eerulli(onion) gojju when she visited him recently or digs enthusiastically into her Burrito roll from Chipotle or bites with glee into her Olive Garden bread while slurping her delicious Minestrone soup, I know my passion for cooking has not raised a snobbish child. I feel assured it is just a child with good taste in food who will find good eats to survive on when the time comes. All is not lost, no long term damage done and the my world is a happy place so I can get back to my cooking and blogging without upsetting the semblance of life :-).

Here is a confession, I am not a fan of pasta. Before you gasp and give me the 'weirdo, where did you come from?' look (it has happened before whenever I tell people that I don't like pasta very much), let me just state that it is a personal quirk. Everybody is entitled to one or more and I have mine too but I do not portray my eating habits on my family or insist that they follow it. So I cook all kinds of pasta & noodles dishes since both BH & DD love it. 

Arrabiata is a a very popular pasta sauce from Italy, the word means 'angry' because of the heat generated from the red chilies and the vibrant color of the sauce itself. Yep, it doesn't make the person eating it angry :-). Ok, enough of PJs. Infact the sauce is extremely delicious (according to the reliable tasters/testers at home) and a tad bit spicier than regular sauces. It gets its flavor from 2 key ingredients - garlic and basil and of course juicy tomatoes. I strongly recommend using fresh basil versus dried version as the flavor component can drastically vary. 

What do you need for making Penne Arrabiata? 
Makes 2 servings
3 cups dry penne - I used a whole grain Penne
7-8 cups water to cook pasta
For the Arrabiata sauce: 
2 large tomatoes or 4 cups chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tblsp tomato paste or tomato ketchup
4-5 twigs of fresh basil (about 20 leaves picked)
1-2 twigs fresh Thyme (optional but highly recommended)
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped or 1/2 Tsp garlic powder (up or down based on your preference)
1.5 Tblsp crushed chili flakes (I used the kind you sprinkle on pizzas)
3/4 Tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
3/4 Tsp brown sugar
2 Tblsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tblsp olive oil

How do you make Penne Arrabiata? 

• Wash, remove stems and chop tomatoes into bite size pieces. Take them to the blender and puree, a few small pieces of tomato is good as it makes the sauce chunky. 
• Heat a heavy bottom skillet on medium heat, add olive oil and finely chopped garlic (or garlic powder) and roast it for 2-3 minutes taking care not to burn it. The idea is to infuse the oil with the garlic flavor.
• Add chopped onions and continue to fry stirring frequently until onion turns soft and light brown. Do not crisp the onions. 

• Add the tomato puree and the rest of the ingredients listed except for cilantro, mix well and let it come to a boil on medium heat. 
• Lower the heat and let the sauce simmer and thicken for another 35-40 minutes by which time your kitchen will be smelling like a pasta lover's paradise. 

• Cook pasta per package instructions until al dente, drain the water. Add a couple of drops of olive oil and 1 Tblsp chopped cilantro, mix well to coat evenly and keep aside until ready to use. 

• The sauce reduces and turns a brighter red. Switch off. 

• Add the cilantro coated pasta to the sauce and give it a mix. Serve hot garnished with remaining cilantro.

Notes: 

• I used fresh tomatoes as they are in season and I like them fresh. You can use canned tomatoes instead. Be sure to drain the preserving liquid.
• Arrabiata traditionally has tiny bits of tomatoes, it is a matter of texture, I prefer to puree the tomatoes as my family likes it this way. The chopped onions still bring out the same chunky texture and we don't miss anything. 

• Feel free to up the amount of chili flakes used in the recipe if you can tolerate the heat, after all it is an Arrabiata sauce :-), DD says, the amount I put is perfect so I stick to these measurements. 
• Use fresh basil only in this recipe, dried herbs do not do justice here. 
• The longer you let the sauce simmer, the herbs have a better chance to work their magic. 20 minutes is a minimum and do not hurry the process. 

• It is important to not burn the garlic or crisp the onions in this recipe as it spoils the sauce. Manage the heat on your stove. 
• You can make this sauce in bulk and store it in the refrigerator in a clean, dry jar for a couple of weeks. 
• Although Arrabiata is tradiationally served on Penne in Italy, no one stops you from enjoying this delicious sauce with any other choice of pasta :-).

Indo Chinese - Vegetable noodles, spicy, tangy and made in a jiffy

A decade or so ago when access to International food in India was very limited, Indo-Chinese cuisine was one of the most sought after cuisine after our special Dosa and the very Indian chats. Gobi Manchurian became such a popular dish that it is now main streamed into Indian snacks :-). I have heard my Chinese friends say that Indo-Chinese doesn't taste anything like Chinese and not anything like what they cook at home :-), I understand the sentiment totally which is how I feel when I go to an Indian restaurant. The food has to adapt to its surrounding culture and sensibilities for survival.

According to Wikipedia - Indian Chinese cuisine is the adaptation of Chinese seasoning and cooking techniques to Indian tastes. This brand of cooking is thought to have originated in Kolkata started by the 1700s Chinese immigrants to India. I found a nice article about Sino-Indian cooking and its popularity in CNN travel here, it is about 3 years old but a good read.

There was a restaurant close to where I worked in the heart of Bengaluru before our offices moved all the way out of city and after I started working, I found out that it was a favorite joint for most office parties. It was right across from the street, had decent and spacious dining rooms and served good food. The first time I went there, I found that the food was Indo-Chinese which I had never tasted thus far. After pouring over the menu and customizing the order, I had a plate of Vegetable Fried rice. It was very different from the Fried rice I was used to and there was a very distinct flavor in it which I later found out was the Soy sauce. When I told BH about my lunch adventure, he said that I should have tried their noodles. I did eventually and liked it.

Both BH & DD love pastas and noodles while I am indifferent to them. So I started making them at home to see the happiness quotient go up and the pesto pasta has been a favorite with both of them. I was not very sure of this vegetable noodles being a success with DD as she picks out bell peppers (with the exception when grilled). But to my pleasant delight, the bowl was wiped clean and there was not a single whiny sound about 'why I had to have bell peppers in the dish' :-). Buoyed by the success, I made it again the next time when she had a friend visiting and both the girls enjoyed it thoroughly. This is now a favorite at home. I have used the Angel Hair pasta I get here and not the Chinese Hakka noodles, you can use either one or any other thin spaghetti in this recipe.

Some highlights of Indo-Chinese cooking are that the vegetables are never mushy but always retain the crunch and crispiness. The dish is almost always doused with a generous dose of soy sauce. I do not use ajinomoto or MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate) in my cooking and with the limited knowledge I have, I do not recommend it but will show you how to make a really awesome Indo Chinese noodles loaded with vegetables and gets ready in a matter of minutes. I have a secret ingredient which makes this dish irresistible but will also show you alternative ingredient should you not have access to it :-)

What do you need to make Indo-Chinese vegetable noodles?
2 cups cooked noodles (angel hair pasta/hakka noodles/thin spaghetti)
2 Tblsp sesame oil
1/2 cup thinly chopped onion - preferably red onions or shallots
1/2 cup french cut green beans
1/2 cup carrots - chopped into thin match sticks
1/2 cup finely shredded cabbage
1/2 cup thinly sliced bell peppers - mix colors if you have
1/4 cup chopped green onions/scallions/spring onions
1/4 Tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 Tsp salt (divided use)
1 Tblsp soy sauce
1 Tblsp Maggie hot & sweet sauce (or use 1 Tblsp Tomato ketchup + 1/2 Tsp regular chili sauce)

How do you make Indo-Chinese vegetable noodles?

• Cook the noodles per package instructions until al dente and as soon as it reaches the right texture, switch off, pour it into a sieve, and run cold water on it for 15-20 seconds. 
• Heat oil in a wide wok on high heat, add onions and give it a stir. Add green beans, carrots and cabbage.
• Cook for a minute stirring continuously. 
• Add salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Add the bell peppers followed by the sauces.

• Add the cooked, drained pasta and mix it well. 

• Top it with chopped green onions, give a mix.
• Serve warm. 

Notes: 

• Keep the heat on high and ensure that the entire bottom surface of the pan/wok is heated uniformly. This is important to get the vegetables cooked right. 
• I use sesame oil for the flavor it adds to the dish but you can use any other regular oil you use in your kitchen.
• Use a tong and spoon to quickly mix and serve the noodles.

 

Pesto pasta - Minty fresh pasta with nutty goodness

Is there anyone out there that doesn't like pasta? Confession here, I am not a fan of pasta, something about the texture of cooked pasta puts me off. The husband and daughter both love pasta in all its shapes and size which set me off on a hunt for a good home made pasta recipe.

Pesto is Italian for 'pound' or 'crush' and refers to the way this sauce was originally made by pounding the ingredients together. Typically pesto has the usual suspects, basil, garlic, pine nuts, cheese and olive oil. But there are also all kinds of innovative pesto sauces. I normally add a handful of nuts from my refrigerator in addition to the basil. I once saw a pesto recipe that had frozen green peas in it and have been religiously adding it as my family seems to like the taste. This makes the sauce a tad bit healthier too. I got a bag full of fresh green peas which I sat down and shelled patiently the other day and put them into the pesto. It seemed to work wonders if I can go by the smile on DD's face as she ate it. So then it became a norm to add either frozen peas or fresh ones if I could get my hands on them.

When something clicks and becomes a regular at home, I tend to go off and make modification (and tell my unsuspecting family they are improvisations) :-) which sometimes works and sometimes I get told sternly to stay away from that modification and stop killing a wonderful recipe :-). I had made pudina chutney (the regular South Indian chutney with coconut and mint) and the bowl was still on the kitchen counter when I started to put the ingredients for the pesto, so I just added a couple Tblsp of the chutney into the pesto and the reaction was, "Amma, this is the best pesto pasta you have made so far" immediately followed by a suspicious, "What did you do??" :-).

The coconut lover that I am, I would love to tell you all to go ahead and add some chutney into your pasta sauce to make it yummy but I won't. That would make some puritans cringe totally, coconut in a pasta sauce? So, not to break the order in the World, just go ahead and add a whole bunch of fresh mint leaves to make it minty and yummy. I have found that this recipe is a total comfort food in my daughter's age group and they love it every time it is made.

On another note, I got a stand mixer sometime back, it was one of those - "do I need it, do I want it" deliberations that had been going on with my inner self and finally I gave in during the last black Friday sale. To give myself some credit, I had a long unused gift card (so I didn't deny my family from any basic necessity) and the store had this stand mixer stacked outside with a huge sale board. So it was like destiny, I went and picked one up, came home and gave a long explanation of all the wonderful things I could make with that stand mixer including bread dough and how this machine would revolutionize my kitchen and make it a wonderfully efficient place. BH, the ever patient man, nodded very encouragingly (he does that when he sees a lost cause), I saw the lips curl ever so slightly as he probably thought about the other similar gadgets I have acquired previously. What I have found with this stand mixer is that it is a really powerful machine and does what it claims to do including the bread dough but I have a 7 cup mixer which I wrongly understood to be the amount of dry flour it can mix at a time. But the reality is I can only put about 2.5-3 cups dry flour and the remaining ingredients will fill the capacity.  So, you see it is too much of work, doing it in batches and cleaning up all the different attachments and so I have fallen back to my kneading by hand (good exercise and calms my nerves too). But I use this mixer every time I make pesto as it crushes frozen nuts like a bulldozer and produces a wonderfully textured sauce. So, it was not a bad buy after all :-)
Update on 9/24/14: I am revamping this post as an entry for Indus Ladies kid's lunch box event since the first thing DD mentioned when I asked her what her ideal lunch box recipe was this :-)

So here is a recipe for a minty, creamy pesto sauce to jazz up your pasta.

What do you need to make pesto? 
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup green peas (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1 Tsp dry basil (or a handful of fresh basil leaves)
1/2 Tsp dry oragano
1/2 Tsp dry thyme (optional but recommended)
2 cloves of fresh garlic (adjust quantity to your liking)
1/4 Tsp black crushed black pepper
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 cup grated cheese (suggestions: mozarella, parmigiono)
2 Tblsp olive oil

To make pasta:
2 cups of pasta (I normally use any of these types - penne, fusilli, bow tie)
1/2 Tsp salt
1 Tsp oil (I use saffola oil)
1 cup mixed vegetables (I use green beans, carrots, broccoli or cauliflower) - chopped into thin slices or small pieces.

How do you make pesto?

• Add all the ingredients under pesto except for cheese and olive oil into the bowl of your food processor or mixer and pulse it a few times until the nuts crumble down. 
• Add the cheese and stream the oilve oil little at a time to grind the pesto into a smooth chutney like consistency. 
• Taste and adjust any herbs or spices you like. 

How do you assemble pesto pasta? 

• Cook pasta per the package instructions. Drain the pasta and reserve the cooked water. 
• Heat 1 Tsp oil in a big pan, add the chopped vegetables and saute for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. The vegetables should be barely cooked and should not lose their crunch. 

• Add the cooked pasta into the pan, add the pesto and adjust the consistency using the reserved water. Switch off the stove and serve warm. 

Note: 

• If you are using a regular mixer, be kind on the motor and thaw the nuts to room temperature before running the mixer. Also use about 1/4-1/2 cup water if you need to help the grinding process. 
• The above quantity makes enough pesto for 2 cups of pasta, you can make pesto in larger quantities and refrigerate up to 3 days. 

• The above proportion is how my family likes it, you can increase/decrease any of the spices or herbs and cheese to make it perfect for your taste buds.
• The consistency of the final dish is an entirely personal choice, DD loves to slurp every bite with a little bit of sauce so I make it slightly liquidish. Adjust the amount of water you use.