Penne Pasta Bake with tomato and béchamel sauce

We had been having some spicy Indian meals lately so I decided that today we would make quick and easy pasta bake with tomato and white sauce. I have recipes in my blog for spicy pasta and simple penne pasta bake with tomato sauce but not with bechamel sauce. My apologies for missing out some pictures as I thought that this recipe was already in my blog and didn't take the step by step pictures. 

Ingredients to serve 4 people 

300 gram of Penne or Fusilli Pasta
500mls of Passata ( you can use tinned tomatoes but will need more as the sauce will not be as thick as Passata)
7-8 cloves of fresh garlic
1 onion
2 green chillies
1 teaspoon
salt for the pasta sauce and one for the pasta.
Pepper to taste
2-3 cups of grated cheddar and mozarella cheese
1 teaspoon of oregano
sliced tomatoes for garnishing

For the béchamel sauce

1/3 cup plain white flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg
500mls milk at room temperature
2 tablespoons of butter

Method:

1. Add cold water, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons oil in a saucepan. Once the water boils, add the pasta. The water should cover the pasta completely.

2. Make for the red sauce: 

a. Blend the passata, onions and garlic and heat the sauce.

b. Add the salt and pepper.

c. Once heated, let it simmer gently.

d. This basic sauce can be made ahead and frozen too to use anytime you cook pasta or spaghetti. If you like hot and spicy pasta, you can add fresh green chillies to the sauce. You can also add some vegetables to the sauce if you wish to.

3. Now prepare the béchamel sauce:

a. Heat the butter until it melts.

b. Now make the roux (rue) by adding the plain flour to the melted butter. Keep stirring the mixture constantly for about 5 minutes over low heat. The flour needs to be cooked well to get a good sauce.

c. Add in the milk (which should be at room temperature) slowly, turn the heat to medium and continue to stir the sauce until it begins to thicken. Now add in the nutmeg.

d. Your béchamel sauce is ready so switch off the heat.

4. Once the pasta has cooked, drain it and spread it an oven proof dish.

5. Spread the red sauce over the the pasta.

6. Spread the béchamel sauce over the red sauce.

7. Sprinkle some grated cheese on the white sauce.

8. Garnish with oregano, black pepper and sliced tomatoes

9.  Cook in the oven at 170 degrees for 20 minutes or until the top goes golden brown,

10.  Serve it hot.

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Raita: Spicy Yogurt Dip with carrots and fresh mint

 

Last Saturday Mr J cooked dinner accompanied by a  delicious banana raita.   So I wanted to make something equally nice but slightly different as an accompaniment for our Sunday dinner.  I made the raita using nearly every herb in my fridge and when we tasted it  - the flavours were amazing.  The freshness of the mint, the aroma of coriander, ginger and garlic together with the hot chillies ....wow..unbelievable flavours!

Ingredients for 2 servings:

3 cups of Greek style yogurt

1 medium freshly grated carrot

 ½ cup of freshly chopped mint

½ inch of fresh ginger - grated finely

2-3 cloves of fresh garlic (minced using a garlic press)

2-3 fresh green chillies finely chopped

½ tsp. salt

1 heaped tsp.English mustard (you can use any similar)

For the tempering:

1 tbsp. rapeseed oil
1 tsp. mustard seeds

Method:

1.   Add the grated carrots, chopped chillies, chopped mint, grated ginger and minced garlic in a bowl.

2. Add the greek yogurt to the mixture, add the salt and the mustard and mix well.

3.  In a separate saucepan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds to it.  Once the mustard seeds stop popping, switch off the heat.  Add the oil to the raita mixture and stir.

4.  Add the freshly chopped coriander and mix well.  Allow the mixture to marinade for 20-30 minutes.

5.  Garnish with a sprig of mint and serve.  All the herbs in the raita will add flavour to this fresh raita which can be eaten with any Indian dinner.  It's also a great dip to have with papads.

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Spicy Bombs (Hot spicy stuffed bhajias for those who dare!)

I recently had some friends round for a games night. Catering for these can be a challenge as you don't want to interrupt the flow of the game to start serving up a three-course meal! So I decided to make a selection of finger food that we could easily eat during breaks in the games.

One of the dishes I made on the day is what my brother BT calls Bapu's bhajias and my friend VP calls packed bhajias.   I have named them Spicy bombs as that's what Hansa called them in her recipe book.   In her recipe, she adds whole chillies and gathia to the boiled potatoes but I decided against that.  I decided to remove the seeds from  chillies and blend them with sev noodles as I thought that this would blend better and make the bhajias tastier.  I was in one of those dare devil moods after my trip to the USA and wanted to see which of my friends had the guts to eat these spicy delicacies.   I was expecting to see a few red sweaty  faces but surprisingly, all my friends enjoyed them and found them to taste OK after a few drinks.

Ingredients for enough bhajias for 3-4 people 

12-16 new baby potatoes

For the batter to dip the potatoes:

2 cups of chick pea flour (often called gram flour or besan)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon of Ajwain
small bunch of  fresh coriander cut finely (can use coriander powder too)
Pinch of soda bi carbonate

For stuffing No 1:

1 cup sev ( you can buy ready made sev noodles in most Asian stores)
4-5 fresh green chillies (washed and blended)
1 tsp ground sugar
small bunch of finely chopped coriander
2-3 tbsps lemon juice
1 tbsp oil

For stuffing no 2

5-6 cloves of  blended garlic
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon chillypowder
½ teaspoon of cumin powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1tbsp dessicated coconut
small bunch of finely chopped coriander

For the Deep Frying:

1 litre of cooking oil ( I always use sunflower oil)

Method for both the stuffings:

Prepare the potatoes as below: 

1. Steam the baby potatoes with the skin on. I suggest steaming rather than boiling as you do not want the potatoes to over cook and break.

2. Once cooked, allow to cool and peel the skin from the potatoes.

 Prepare the stuffing No 1 (ingredients for 10-12 baby potatoes):

1.  Crush the sev using your hands and mix all the ingredients listed under stuffing No 1 above in a bowl and leave for 20 minutes.

Prepare stuffing No 2 which will be hotter and spicer (Ingredients for 4 baby potatoes)

1. Peel and blend the garlic using a pestle and mortar or a grinder.

2. Add salt and 1 teaspoon of lemon to the garlic to make the blending easier.

3. Remove the blended mixture to a mixing bowl and add the chilly powder and cumin powder to it

4.  Add the finely chopped coriander , dessicated coconut and  sesame seeds to the mixture.

5.  This mixture should resemble a firm paste.

Prepare the chick pea flour batter to dip your potatoes in:

1. Add one cup of water to the Chick pea flour and mix well.  You may need to add half  cup more to get the right thickness of the batter.

2. Add the salt, ajwain, fresh coriander and stir well.

3. The mixture should be fairly thick as shown in my picture.

4.  Allow this to rest whilst you heat the oil.

Now prepare the potatoes for both the stuffings:

1. Cut the potatoes across - but only half way  on one side; turn to the opposite side and cut the potato across half way again.

2.  The stuffing with the sev should now be soft and manageable to use. If it feels too dry, sprinkle a couple of drops of water to moisten it.

3.  Fill the potatoes with the stuffing mixture no 1:

4,  Fill the potatoes with stuffing no 2:

  To finish making the bhajias:

1. To check if the oil is hot, drop a small drop of batter into the oil. If the oil is ready, the batter will rise to the top.

2. Turn the heat slightly low now.

3. Add a pinch of soda by carbonate to the chick pea mixture and stir.

3. Take one potato at a time; using a spoon, dip it in the chick pea flour mixture and transfer it to the oil -using a knife or a chopstick .

4. Allow it to cook one side and turn.

5. Once they look golden yellow, they are cooked and ready to serve with any chilly sauce.

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CHAI MASALA to enjoy a Cup of Masala Chai on Friendship Day.

Chai is the Indian name for Tea. Chai masala is the blend of spices to add to your tea. Chai is becoming very popular in a lot of coffee shops such as Starbucks, Costa coffee etc.

Several spices are blended together to get the pefect Tea masala. Some like their masala to have more pepper whereas others may prefer more cinnamon or cardomon taste.  Over the years, I have blended tea masala numerous times and now have found the perfect blend for us.  I would suggest that you use this recipe as a base and add or decrease ingredients to your preferred taste.  We tend to blend enough masala to last us two to three weeks.


Ingredients enough to make 1 and half cups of  chai masala:

Ginger powder 10 grams
Cinnamon 25 grams
Black Whole peppercorns 10 grams
Ground white pepper powder 10 grams
Cardommon 10 grams
Cloves 15 grams
Nutmeg 10 grams

Method:

1. Lightly roast the cinnamon and cloves separately on a hot griddle for 2 minutes .

2.  Grind the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns,cardamon and nutmeg until quite fine.  I used an electric grinder.

3..  Transfer to a bowl and add the ground white pepper and ground ginger

4.  Mix well with a fork and store in an airtight container. The aroma of the Chai masala filled the kitchen and I had to have a cup of tea with the freshly ground Tea masala.

5.  You can add the masala to any blend of Tea to enjoy a nice cup of tea.  For a perfect Gujarati chai - boil all these in a saucepan:  2 mugs of water,  2 tea bags, 1 level teaspoon of the chai masala, 1 mug of semi skimmed milk and sugar to taste.  Once boiled, allow it to boil for 3-4 minutes more then sieve the tea and enjoy it.

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