Easy Pasta with Tomatoes

You MUST make this. Especially on a holiday. When the whole family relaxes, you can make this dish in minutes and get so many 'wows'!
So easy, so tasty.
Just 3 main ingredients. Nothing fancy. Just tomato, garlic and cheese. It takes longer to cook the pasta than to make the tomato base! So you might want to start cooking the pasta before you start off with the tomato.

Serves - 2

Ingredients:
Pasta - 200 gms
Cherry tomato / tomato - 1/2 kg
Garlic - 6 cloves , chopped fine
Salt
Parmesan cheese - 1 cup
Olive oil - 5 tbsp

Method:
Boil the pasta in ample salted water till nearly cooked. Drain and toss in 1 tbsp olive oil.
If you are using ordinary tomato, cut them into large cubes. If you are using the cherry tomato, use them as they are.
Heat the rest of the olive oil and add the garlic.
Once it starts changing colour, add the whole tomato and salt.
Mix and cook covered.
Once it gets cooked, mash with the spoon and wait for more juice to ooze out.
Now add the pasta to this.
Toss and mix well and heat until the pasta gets heated through.
Add 1/2 cup parmesan and mix. Once well incorporated, turn off heat and serve topped with more cheese.
You can always garnish with some greens like basil, parsley or even celery.

Eggplant and Tomato Sauce With Israeli Couscous Recipe

This is an experimental recipe which was a success.
I have never cooked nor tasted couscous before, but after watching all those cookery shows on TV, I was very familiar with it. It is a moroccan staple and usually served with a gravy dish.
So when we went to Italy, I bought a packet of 'couscous', with absolutely no idea of what to do with it.
Thus started my recipe hunt!
Then I found an incredible recipe (which made the taste buds in my head salivate....yup! I have those) from the website 'seriouseats' and the end result was great. It's taste reminded me of tomato rice with brinjal.
What I was amazed was the way the couscous fluffed up.
I took one cup of dry couscous and it was more than sufficient for 3. I had leftovers, which I had the next day. So be careful with the quantity.

Recipe source : Seriouseats

Serves - 4

Ingredients:
Couscous - 1 cup
Garlic - 4 cloves , grated
Onion - 1 medium , chopped fine
Tomato - 4 medium , chopped fine
Brinjal / aubergine - 1/2 large , cubed
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Water* / broth - 1 cup

* Mix 1 Maggi magic cube with the water to get extra taste.

Method:
Take couscous in a bowl and add 1/2 tsp salt. Mix well.
Boil 1 cup water or broth and pour over the couscous. Mix well and keep covered.
Heat the olive oil and add the onion and garlic.
Fry on a low flame till transparent.
Add the Brinjal and mix well.
Cook covered, stirring often till the brinjal gets cooked.
Now add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, turmeric and chilly powder.
Mix and cook covered till tomato turns mushy / pulpy.
Open the lid and give a thorough mix.
Now add the couscous and cook till all the water in the gravy gets absorbed.
Serve hot, garnished with parsley.

Kovakka / Tindora / Ivy gourd dry fry with coconut and spices

Many years ago (1997) while we had a short sujourn in UAE, we used to visit Woodlands in Sharjah.
Here they used to serve this particular thoran (if we were lucky, as the menu kept changing) and I was not interested in cooking at all then and did not bother getting the recipe.

Years later I stumbled on a preparation made with spinach (cheera thoran) by my neighbor. I used the same base and substituted the spinach with ivy gourd / kovakkai and the end result tastes quite similar to Woodland's kovakkai.

Recipe courtesy : Jesamma Boban

Ingredients:
Kovakka(i) / Ivy gourd / tindora - 300 gms
Salt to taste
Coconut oil - 4 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Red chilly - 2, broken
Curry leaf - 1 sprig

To be ground into a coarse paste without water:
Coconut - 1/3 cup
Curry leaf - 1 sprig
Red Chilli - 4
Small onion - 5
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Garlic (opt) - 1 pod
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp

Method:
Wash the ivy gourd well and cut into thin slices.
Heat the coconut oil and add the mustard seeds and red chillies.
Once it crackles, add the coarsely ground paste and salt. Saute on a medium flame, stirring continuously for 1 minute.

Now add the ivy gourd. Mix well. Reduce flame and cook covered for 10 minutes.
Open, mix well and cook on a medium flame till all water evaporates and it starts getting fried.

It is better to not brown the vegetable too much, as this means the coconut will blacken.
The thoran is ready!

Puli Kozhambu by Chef Mathivannan

When we went to Taj Varkala two Onam's ago, the menu was skewed towards non-vegetarian food and our choices were completely depleted in 3 meals. The chef (Mr.Mathivannan) took pity on us and served us every afternoon an amazing 'puli kozhambu' with fluffy white rice. The taste was so good I needed the recipe. He conducted a class for me on our last day of stay and showed me how to make the curry from scratch.

I have made this curry so many times after that trip, but sadly never gotten around to posting it here.

The taste is excellent and reminds you of Tamilnadu hinterlands (read : Chettinad).

Ingredients:

Sunflower / Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp 

Til oil / Gingelly oil / ellennai / nalla ennai - 2 tbsp

Mustard - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp + 1 tsp

Uluva / methi / fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

Small onion / shallots / chinna ulli / chinna vengayam - 10, sliced thin

Curry leaf - 1 sprig

Garlic - 2 pods, sliced thin

Green chilli - 2, slit

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp (or more)

Coriander powder - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Jeera powder - 1 tsp

Tomato - 2, Blanched and pureed

Vegetables - 2 cups, thinly cut

(drumstick, raw banana, brinjal, beans)

Tamarind - 1 inch ball (or) 2 tbsp thick extract mixed in 1 cup water

Coconut - 1/4 cup

(my notes taken during the class)

Method:

If you are using vegetables which might take time to cook like drumstick and raw banana, unlike brinjal or ladies finger which is easy to cook, please boil them in just enough water to soften a little.

Grind the coconut with 1 tsp jeera into a smooth paste and keep aside.

Heat both the oils in a heavy bottomed kadai.
Splutter the mustard. Then add the jeera and methi.
Next add the onion, green chilly, curry leaf and garlic.
Saute until onion starts turning golden brown.
Then add all the powders - salt, turmeric, chilli, coriander and jeera.

Saute on a low flame for 2 minutes and if you feel the oil is less add one more tablespoon of oil.
Now add the tomato puree.

Cook on a low flame for 2-3 minutes until raw smell goes.
Now add the vegetables and saute till they soften well.
Now add the tamarind paste and water.

Cook covered for 5 - 7 minutes and then add the ground coconut-jeera mixture.

Give just one boil and turn off flame.

Serve hot with white rice topped with ghee.