Tomato-Dry Basil Pasta Sauce

The classic Tomato Basil pasta Sauce! Many-a-times, simple and easy things make a much more lasting impact than the complex and difficult ones. When pasta was introduced to me, it was always the bottled sauces which was being used in our home. I always felt the flavours were artificial in those  bottled jars and it was not tasting so great. Thats when I wanted to try it at home to add my own ingredients and store it. 

Tomato is always a dear ingredient to me as it is very versatile and can be added into a lot of dishes to enhance their taste. It is very difficult to live without tomatoes for a living; at least I say so! The tomato pasta gives a natural sourness of the tomatoes along with the spiciness of the red chilies and pepper powder. The basil brings in the enchanting aroma of the herbs family. 

You can do the dish with fresh basil as well but I always use the dried basil to store it in small cubes for future use. Add on your vegetables as per your taste.

Servings: 2-3
Time to make: 1 hour  45 minutes (15 minutes of preparation + 1.5 hours of cooking)

Ingredients:

Onion - 1 small or 1/2 big

Capsicum - 1/2 big

Garlic - 1 big clove
Olive oil - 1 TBSP

Dried Basil - 1 tbsp

Pepper powder  -1/4 tsp

Dry red chilli flakes - 1/8 tsp

Salt - as required

Red Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

Tomatoes - 5 big

Fresh Parsley - 2-3 tbsp (optional)

Recipe:

1. Get your vegetables ready. Chop the onions, capsicum and garlic nicely into small pieces.

2. In the meantime, boil some water and add in the tomatoes. Wait till the outer skin of the tomatoes start to peel. Take them out of the hot water and wash it with cold water. Remove the skin and blend it in a blender. You can blend it into a smooth paste or have some small chunks of tomatoes depending on your taste.

3. Add the olive oil into the pan. Once it becomes hot, add the onions and garlic. Fry them till translucent.

4. Next, add the chopped capsicum along with the onions and garlic. Give it a nice fry.

5. Next would be to add the red chilli flakes, red chilli powder and pepper powder along with some salt. 

6. Once they are mixed completely, add the dry basil leaves and mix it well. I like to fry the basil in the oil before adding the tomatoes.

7. Finally, add the pureed tomatoes into the pan along with the vegetables. Add some salt depending on your taste.

8. Once the tomato puree is added, let it boil for around 1 hour and 15-20 minutes. The boiling time depends totally on your tomato water consistency and how much thickness you like your sauce to be. If you like to boil it for more time, just go ahead and give it a thicker consistency. If you think the thickness is achieved in 45 minutes, just switch it off. For me, it takes at least 1 hour 20 minutes to get the consistency.

Thats it! Switch off the flame and let it cool down. If you would like to have some fresh sauce along with your pasta, go ahead and make it. However, I usually cook the tomato sauce and freeze it for my future use. I put it into my freezer cube box and once the cubes are ready, I put them into a container or ziplock bag. You can keep it till 2 months and use it when necessary. 

I usually use thrice or four times the quantity mentioned and freeze them once cooled. They make an easy and quick lunch for a hectic schedule or an easy take away for your picnic. Add in some brocolli during your pasta cooking and your easy peasy pasta is ready to be enjoyed! Kids will love this with some extra cheese. So yum!