Enjoy Great Recipes With Cheesy Tomato Paste And Pizza Sauce

Seems yummy? It is. Even the words like pizza sauce and tomato paste are mouth-watering. If you are a food buff and love to try out different recipes using different ingredients, this stuff is simply outstanding to add up to the taste.

Well, pizza sauce is a common garnishing ingredient for pizzerias. Whether you're making pizza at home or baking the frozen one, few sprinkles of pizza sauce will suffice to add up to flavor.

These are available readymade though, you can also try it at home. For people looking forward to cut costs, it is rather better option to make instant pizza sauce.

Homemade Pizza Sauce with Tomato Paste

The sauce can be made from myriad of tomato products from canned tomatoes to crushed tomatoes to fresh tomatoes. You can resort to the easiest one and save yourself the fuss, simple use tomato paste.

You can easily find the paste in the market in small cans. It costs very low and tastes very bold which, I feel, is some of the virtues. To turn the paste into pizza sauce, add dried herbs like parsley, rosemary, oregano etc. Parsley is the perfect to start though. Now, add crushed pepper flakes, garlic flakes and salt. You can also add a pinch of sugar, depending on your taste.

The next step is, to add liquids. There are many options to choose from:

White wine vinegar - adds tart and crisp flavorOlive oil- adds sheen to the sauceBalsamic vinegar- for a bold flavorWater - doesn't add any flavor but gives you the consistency you desire.

In usual 1/4 to 1 cup addition of liquid will give you the desired consistency. If you want it to spread easily, adding more of olive oil will be helpful. Once you are done with this, add spices to adjust to the liquid levels. Add more salt and pepper and taste. With this, your instant pizza sauce is ready to use. You can use right away or keep it in refrigerator for a couple of hours so that the taste develops further. The choice is yours!

You can try it out and share your experiences with friends and family. One thing is sure though, making the sauce at home is very simple with no extra efforts required. Try it out and add flavor to your dishes.

In fact, tomato paste is a multipurpose agent. Adding just basic ingredients, you can make it fit to be added to different cuisines including Greek, Thai and of course, Italian. Store simple tomato paste and add different spices as and when required. All the best for your cooking experiments!

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How To Make Restaurant Style Makhani Gravy For Curries, Step by Step

 

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.

Ingredients For Sauce ( serves 2-3)

2tomatoes

1onion

1green chili

7-8 cashew nuts

a small piece stone flower

2 bay leaves

2 cloves

2 green cardamom

1  black cardamom

a small piece of mace (javitri)

1tbsp butter

1tbsp oil

a pinch of sugar

1/4 cup fresh cream

a pinch of roasted kasoori methi (powdered)

Method

Soak the cashew nuts in warm water for half an hour and grind to make a smooth paste.

Boil onion, tomatoes and green chilli together. Cool and grind to a smooth paste.

Mix butter and oil together in a pan and heat them. Add all the whole spices and sauté on low flame. This allows the spices to release their oils in the oil.

Add the cooked onion-tomato-chilli paste.

Sauté till oil separates.

Add the coriander, red chilli, turmeric powders and mix.

Add the cashew nut paste, mix and cook.

Pass the cooked gravy through a mesh to remove the whole spices and to get a smooth textured gravy.

Add half cup water to the gravy and bring it to a boil.

Switch off flame and mix the cream (leave half a spoon for garnishing).

The makhani gravy is ready. Sprinkle the kasoori methi and use.

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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 catches 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 you read a recipe, one eats it first through ones eyes, imagine the flavors mentally and then when you try it in your 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 the physical reality also happened soon.

Last week it so happened that I had my eldest nephew Abhi visiting us for a week and I was having a good time dishing out my preparations in an ecstatic mode to him but at the same time I was mentally perturbed as the younger one who is entering his teens has been giving all of us a difficult time for the last few weeks. He suddenly gets into a very adamant mood and things go completely haywire in the house. Initially I handled it with lots of patience but since his attitude is not changing I get irritated at times and lose my patience. I know, I know, I should not be doing that, and I curse myself after I’ve yelled and screamed  but what to do, by then the arrow has already left the bow. Every time I have a difficult time with him, I tell myself, take a day at a time and things would settle, I gear myself again and counsel him.If you have any suggestions on how to control adamancy in teens and how to help them control their anger, I’m all ears..

So, when Abhi and the elder one decided to go and meet friends on a weekend, I realized I had enough food for myself and I could indulge myself in something interesting and creative and loosen up myself. I have always reiterated that working with yeast is therapeutic for me. I decided to make the pull apart rolls in the Bundt. I was  very apprehensive through out the procedure and every step accomplished successfully was making me so excited. When I finally unmolded my Bundt, I was on cloud nine. It was beautiful to see and I clicked it frantically. The younger one arrived from school around the same time and was excited too. When I pulled the first roll, my heart was beating so fast and when I saw the sponge and softness inside it, I knew it was a winner. It was indeed a great start to the use of my Bundt pan.

Every one in the family loved it and DH was all praises about it. In fact he told me to bake a one for his office, so that he could show off his wife’s baking skills. That was indeed very sweet of him to say that and I adore you S for all those sweet things you say, when I cook well.

These rolls taste well by themselves but I made a tomato-parsley sauce to go along with it. One can also make a Marinara sauce, like the Pastry Affair did.This bread can make a good appetizer to go with warm soup also a perfect finger food for kids. I’ve tweaked this recipe a little to suit my certain requirements.

I’m also declaring the new winner of ‘Only’ Mangoes as the previously declared winner Shilpi did not grab the win. I’ve again used random picker and the new number is no.5, which of Eggless mango mousse by Aromatic Kitchen. Congrats Hema, please mail me your address in India with a landmark, proper pin code and your cell number to cookingoodfood@gmail.com within two days.

Now for the recipe

Bundt Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Bread

Preparation Time:15mins

Rising Time:2hrs

Cooking Time: 25-30mins

Serves:6-8people

Ingredients

For The Bread

3-1/2cups APF/maida

2tsp dry active yeast

a pinch of sugar

1-1/3cups water

2tsp salt

2tbsp EVOO

1tsp garlic powder

For The Butter-Spice Mix

1/4 cup molten butter

2garlic cloves, grated

1tsp red chili flakes

1tsp oregano

1tsp basil

To sprinkle

1/4cup grated parmesan cheese

Method For Bread

Proofing The Yeast

Heat the water to a luke warm state and add a pinch of sugar and the yeast. If the yeast is good it will be active and froth up, this is called proofing the yeast.

Kneading The Bread Dough

To the APF, add salt and garlic powder, EVOO and mix. Gradually add the yeast mixture and knead the dough. Knead the dough for 8-10mins on the floor, till it’s smooth and elastic and does not stick to your hand. If required dust APF on the floor while kneading.

First Rise

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover it. Keep it in a warm place and let it rise to almost double the volume. This takes about 1-2hrs.

Knocking the dough

Once the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down to escape the gas and knead again. This process is called knocking.

Butter-spice mix

While the dough rises, melt the butter and add grated garlic, chili flakes, basil and oregano. Keep the mix aside. Also grate the parmesan cheese and keep it aside.

Making bread balls

Grease a Bundt pan properly, this ensures easy unmolding of the bread. Tear pieces of the dough (roughly the size of the bowl of a medium spoon) and make balls. Dip the ball in the butter mix and place them in the Bundt pan. Keep making the balls till a layer is made. Spread 1/3rd of the parmesan cheese over the balls.

In the similar way make three layers.

Second Rise

Cover the balls with a damp towel or greased plate and let the balls double in volume again. Based on the outside temperature, this can take 20mins-1hour.

Baking The bread

Bake the balls in a preheated oven at 175-180C for 25-35mins, till the crust turns golden in color.

Unmold the bread and serve warm with Tomato-Parsley sauce.

Ingredients For Tomato Parsley sauce

3large tomatoes

1/4th of red bell pepper

a pinch of black pepper

1tsp sugar

salt to taste

1tbsp freshly chopped parsley

1garlic clove crushed

2-3tsp oil

Method for sauce

Heat oil lightly and sauté the garlic.

Add tomatoes, salt and sugar. Mix thoroughly and cook covered till mushy.

Add the chili flakes, pepper.

Add the parsley.

Add the bell pepper and cook for a minute and serve.

Since I used the convection mode of the microwave to bake this bread, I’m sending it to my event ‘Only’ Microwave Cooking, hosted here and Nithu’s Healthy Food For Healthy Kids- Preschooler Snacks, guest hosted here.Also, sending  it to Radhika's Lets Cook17-Breads. Also reposting chickpea flour cigars for Only Microwave Cooking

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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.

 

This particular method of making ice cream is very quick, does not require the use of heat or any form of cooking. It’s slightly lower in calories as compared to regular ice creams, since toned milk is used. The only difficulty I faced was clicking the pictures as it was very hot and the ice cream was melting.

The ice cream turned out soft and creamy with a smooth texture. My kids and S said that it’s better than any market ice cream.The Ice-cream and sauce make a good combination. The mango ice cream with the subtle cool effect of menthol and the digestive properties of subja  is something worth trying in this heat..

Mango Ice Cream With Menthol & Subja Sauce

 

Preparation Time:10mins

Making Time: 30mins

Freezing Time: 2hrs

Serves:6

 

Ingredients For Mango Ice Cream Mix

1cup milk (toned)

1/5cup  condensed milk

1-1/2cup alphonso crushed

1-1/2tsp sugar

Ingredients for Subja Sauce

2tsp Subja

a very small crystal of menthol

corn starch slurry

1-1/2cup water

3-4tsp sugar

Method Of making Ice Cream Mix

Dissolve sugar in the milk.

Blend the fresh Alphonso crush to remove any lumps.

Add condensed milk and and milk to it and mix to make a smooth mixture.

If using an ice cream maker, transfer at this stage into the machine for half an hour and then freeze for 2hrs else remove in a plastic air tight container, freeze for 2hrs and then run the hand blender into the ice cream to remove any ice formed and cream the ice cream. Repeat this process 3-4 times and then freeze for 8hrs before serving. (I used the ice cream maker)

Remove the ice cream from the freezer 10mins before serving. Scoop the ice cream and pour the sauce over it.

Method of Making Subja Sauce

Wash the subja and soak it in 1/2cup water for 2hrs. The seed will bloom.

Transfer it into 1more cup water and put the container on fire. Add the sugar and stir. Gradually add the cornstarch slurry, it takes 2-3spoons of thin slurry.

When the sauce cools down, add the menthol and mix. Menthol has peppermint oil which is quite volatile so add it only in a cooled sauce.

Use it with ice cream and desserts. This sauce stays good for 15-20 days, if refrigerated.

Sending it to my event ‘Only’ Mango, guest hosted by Anu.

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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.

 

There are times when the vegetables go unused and show signs of aging on the skin, especially the delicate ones like the capsicum. I’m surely not one of them who will get intimidated by such things, I always take it up as a challenge and come up with something more interesting by using them wisely.  On one such  occasion I roasted them to make an interesting sauce and brought them to good use and using the sauce and with a few additional vegetables, made a pasta. The kid surely loved it but more than him his school friends freaked out, and it became an ‘ON DEMAND’ item. Then on, I started making the sauce frequently and once in two weeks I would give the pasta in his lunch box. I always use durum wheat pasta as it’s much more healthier to eat and digest.

Pasta made this way ensured a good intake of vegetables by the kid and he was happy that he could eat fast food in school, his palate was pampered and satiated. I was more than happy as the kid was satisfied eating his lunch box and was eating a diet rich in fibre and minerals.

Ingredients

(serves 1)

For Roasted Veggie Sauce

1 red capsicum

1 green capsicum

6-7 shallots

2-3 green chillies

2 garlic pods

14-15 cherry tomatoes

For cooking

3/4 cup dry pasta

1/2 yellow capsicum, sliced

3-4 florets of broccoli chopped

3-4 cherry tomatoes, halved

1tsp oregano

1tbsp butter

1tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

2tbsp grated cheese

 

Method

 

Chop all the vegetables and bake at 180C for half an hour or more  till the surface starts wilting and develops roast spots. Grind together using water. This makes about a cup and half of sauce. The sauce can be cooked in advance and be used as and when required.It can be frozen till then.

Boil about 3/4 cups of pasta in 4-5cups of water with  2tsp salt and 1tsp oil. Cook pasta al dente and  immediately strain and pour cold water on it to prevent further cooking.

Heat oil and butter together and sauté the broccoli and cheery tomatoes.

Put oregano and add the yellow capsicum. Do not overcook the veggies.

Mix in about 1-1/4cups (about 2handfuls) of boiled pasta (I used fusilli) and toss in the oil and veggies.

Mix  about 9-10tsp of  roasted veggie sauce and mix in a little salt.

Add the grated cheese (I used tomato flavoured cheddar) and mix. Serve hot. Garnish with sliced yellow capsicum and cherry tomatoes.

Sending it to Vardhini’s New U

Priya Mahadevan’s event guest hosted by Priya Sreeram

Indrani’s

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