Love and Calories!!

"Relax, Sit down, serve yourself a little pasta & taste life" Now that's what I do, when I make Pasta, the love for it just grows each time I make them! And what if some good sauce is combined to it...the pasta only develops its full flavour then. Sauces are of many types which are used in Pastas. Cream and butter sauces blend very well with fresh egg pasta, Meat sauce (Ragu) is so good with any tubular shaped ones, seafood sauces are ideally suited for thin noodle shaped pastas such as linguine, spaghetti or stuffed ones like ravioli. But for the dried pastas, which we normally stock it up in our pantry, a typical tomato sauce is all you need to make.  To start with, I am posting the basic tomato sauce recipe otherwie known as Sugo Al Pomodoro ("Sugo" means sauce or juice & "Pomodoro" means Tomato). Now there's quite a confusion between some of the Italian culinary words which I just can't figure it out, such as, "Sugo...

Now Pulikachal or Puliyodharai must be a very unfamiliar word to most of you however South Indians can immediately relate to it. So let me explain to those who literally don't have any idea whatsoever. As most of us know that Rice (Sadham in Tamil) has got a special place in every South Indian's heart, plain white rice is mixed with variety of lentils, vegetables & spice mixes to give an unique flavouring to it. Many of the popular variety rice dishes are Thayir Sadham (Curd Rice), Thakkali Sadham (Tomato Rice), Sambar Sadham, Thenga Sadham (Coconut Rice) etc. One of which is the Puli Sadham or the Puliyodharai which is nothing but Tamarind Rice. The Rice is mixed with a special tempered tamarind mix which tastes super TANGY & obviously delicious. You just need some poppadams or some crisps to go with it. Usually I buy ready Puliyodharai mix from any of the Asian Stores & use it instantly to my plain white rice. These variety rices are so quick to make especia...

A sweet thick chutney, excellent accompaniment for Dahi Vadas or any other Indian chat items (street food). Ingredients: 100 gm seedless tamarind 4-5 pitted dates (optional) 100 gm jaggery/mollases 2 cups water 1 tsp toasted cumin seeds (powdered) 1/2 tsp ginger powder (saunth, optional) salt to taste Method: Soak the tamarind in a cup of water for 20 minutes. Afterwards, remove the pulp & keep aside the extract. Heat up a sauce pan & pour in the tamarind extract with another cup of water. Let it boil. Meanwhile if you are using the dates, grind it in a blender and make a rough paste. When the tamarind extract starts to boil, thrown in the dates & jaggery pieces to it & simmer the heat down. Let it boil for 10-12 minutes until it starts reducing. Add salt & the ginger powder at this time & oil for another 4 minutes. Switch off the heat & put the toasted cumin powder to it. The sauce will thicken as it cools down. The more thick the sauce/chutney, the...

A quick, easy herb chutney which can be a good dip or accompaniment for any Indian fried appetizer. Use of lush green herbs makes this relish an attractive one too. The mint is so refreshing when you include it in your diet & it is also good for your digestive system. Though this is a Mint Chutney, coriander leaves are also used because, mint alone when made a paste, it loses its colour very soon. Usually coconut is used in Pudina chutney but this recipe has no coconut in it. Sounds all the more easy. isn't it? Ingredients: 120 gm coriander leaves 60 gm mint leaves 2 cloves of garlic 1-2 green chillies 1 small tomato (roughly chopped) 2 tsp cumin seeds 1/2 lemon size tamarind or 1/2 raw mango (finely chopped) salt to taste Method: Blend all the above ingredients into a smooth wet paste with the help of some water. Chill it & take it out at the time you serve.

A quick peanut sauce of Indonesia, ready to be served along with some mouth watering Chicken Satay. Ingredients: 200 gm salted peanuts 1 tbsp molasses sugar or jaggery(I have used soft brown sugar) 1/2 lemongrass stalk, chopped 2 tbsp dark soy sauce juice of 1/2 lime 200 ml coconut cream or milk Method: Put all the Satay Sauce ingredients into a blender & add 2 tbsp of water. Blend together & make a thick chunky sauce out of it. Chill it & serve when needed. PS: To view the recipe of Chicken Satay, please click on the "Oriental" category of this blog.

"Ulli Chammanthi" is the very famous chutney of Kerala.Needless to say, my favourite too. One in every 3 houses in Kerala will definitely have Ulli Chammanthi for their breakfast. It usually compliments well with idlis and any type of South Indian Dosas. My mom-in-law makes it super-duper delicious. If you get a good home made Ulli Chammanthi, then don't even think of counting the number of idlis or Dosas which go inside your tummy. :) "Ulli" in Malayalam means Onion and "Chammanthi" means Chutney. No coconut required unlike other Kerala dishes, but we definitely leave the Malayalee imprints in every Kerala dish, so we drizzle a generous amount of coconut oil. :) Please do try making it at home and you will see people lick off their plate even after the idlis and dosas are long gone. :) Ingredients: 5-6 medium onions (peeled and cut into chunks) 1 tomato (cut into chunks) 3 whole dry red chillies 1 tbsp of cooking oil salt to taste coconut oil to driz...

Bechamel Sauce or the White Sauce is the most common and popular amoung all French Sauces. Though its a French sauce, its used in Italian cuisine as well. Its the base for making other white sauces too. The recipe below is the authentic one, where butter, flour and milk are whisked together and seasoned with salt, pepper & nutmeg powder. Nowadays, its made even more flavourful by adding a slice of onion and mace to it. For now, we will learn the authentic way. :) Ingredients: 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup plain flour (maida) 500 ml milk pinch of nutmeg powder Oregano salt & pepper for seasoning Method: Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Pour in all the milk, whisking constantly until lump free and when it starts to boil. Season with salt, lower the heat, cover & simmer gently for 20 minutes. Stir frequently. Bechamel sauce should not taste floury. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Season with pepper & nutmeg. Sprinkle some Oregano if ...