Pasta with Sun dried tomatoes

I love the flavor that sun dried tomatoes bring in a dish, i often use them in my mix veg

This time I decided to spice up my pasta with it... so here it goes

Ingredients
100gm sun dried tomatoes
800 ml water
handful of jalapenos
1 small bunch fresh parsley
1 small bunch fresh thyme
1 small bunch fresh rosemary
1 medium onion chopped
2 tsp olive oil
500 gms pasta (any shape, my personal fav is fusilli)
salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. boil the water and soak the sun dried tomatoes in it for 10 mins
2. take about 1/3 of the tomatoes and chop
3. make the puree of the rest
4. boil pasta till done, clean and keep separately
5. heat olive oil in a pan and add onions and jalapenos
6. when the onions turn golden brown add the tomato puree and tomatoes
7. boil for 7-10 mins
8. add the chopped herbs and simmer for 2 mins
9. mix the pasta and the sauce

u can also sprinkle some cheese on top to make it more interesting and also some veggies can be added to this to make it more nutritious ... i made this as a quick fix when someone was coming over a short notice so didnt do that

enjoy folks... wish i could upload pics to salivate u guys but my camera's usb cable is yet again missing :(

Cheese Toast

Ingredients:

1. Cheese - 250 gm
2. Milk - 1/2 cup (may need more while preparing paste)
3. Italian seasoning that you get with pizza
4. Black pepper powder
5. 1 -2 capsicum
6. 1-2 tomatoes
7. 1-2 onions
8. 1 cup of corn pearls
9. White/brown bread slices
10. Pizza sauce or simple tomato ketchup
    

Steps:

1. Put cheese, milk and Italian seasoning and make a smooth thick paste. If you make it too thin, it will pour out while baking fro the slices to the baking tray.
2. Dice all the vegetables finely.
   
3. Spread bread slices on the baking tray.
   
4. Put pasta sauce or tomato ketchup on the slices.
   
5. Put the diced vegetables.
6. Put the cheese-milk sauce.
7. Bake it for about 10-12 min in the oven at 200° C
8. Let it cool before digging your teeth into it as the cheese paste is VERY hot! :)

Variations:
1. You can make it with plain cheese-milk paste.
2. You can add mushrooms and olives as well.

Bread Poha

I made bread poha today morning for breakfast. Its a quick and easy snack. Everyone in our family likes it. plus feel its a nice change from regular poha or eating bread toast.


Ingredients:

1. 6-7 Bread slices (white or brown)
2. 2 tomatoes
   
3. 1 big onion (or take 2 small ones)
4. Salt
5. Garam masala
6. Red chilli powder
7. Coriander powder
8. Kadhi Patta
9. Rye/Mustard seeds
10. Fresh Coriander
11. 1 tbsp oil
12. 1/4 cup milk (optional)

Steps:

1. Dice onions and tomatoes finely and keep them separate.
2. Dice bread slices into small squares. You can decide the size as per your liking. I usually dice them into very small squares.
   
3. Wash and clean the kadhi patta and either use it whole or dice it thin. (I dice it thin because my son doesn't like whole leaves coming into his mouth)
4. In a kadhai/wok, put the 1 tbsp oil.
5. When oil has become hot, add the rye seeds and let them splutter.
6. Add diced kadhi patta and onions. Saute them till translucent.
7. Add coriander powder, garam masala and red chilli powder.
8. Add tomatoes and salt. Saute it for a minute.
9. Add bread slices and diced fresh coriander. Mix well on low to medium flame.
10. Add the milk and mix.

Variations:

1. You can add vegetables in it as well. Use grated carrot, diced capsicum, green peas and saute them with onion before adding the diced tomatoes.
2. You can add fried peanuts or cashews.
3. I sometimes grate cheese over the serving and microwave it so that cheese kind of melts up. Betu likes it that way a lot.
   

Tomato - Onion Sandwich

This is a very simple sandwich variation which I usually make on the tawa/girdle but can be made in the toast makers as well.

Ingredients:

1. Tomato
2. Onion
3. Dhaniya/Coriander leaves (optional)
4. Salt
5. Red chilli powder (optional)

Steps:

1. Finely dice the tomato and onions.
   
2. Mix them together in a bowl and add salt and chilli powder.
   
3. Butter up one side of the slice and put the buttered side down on the tawa.
4. Spread the mixture with a spoon and put one slice of bread over it and press it with your palms or a flat ladle as you feel comfortable.
5. When its almost done on one side, apply butter on the upper slice and flip it.
   
6. Once done, cut it into 2 halves. I cut it into 4 squares for Betu as it makes it easier for him to eat that way. Eat it with Ketchup or plain as you like it.
   

Variations:

1. Add grated cheese into the mixture as mentioned above.
2. You can use mashed boiled potatoes roasted with cumin(zeera) and onions as a filling.
3. You can make mixed veggie sandwich by finely chopping the veggies and saute them in butter