Marinara Sauce | Pizza Sauce from fresh tomato

Marinara Sauce is a simple tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, oil and herbs. There are so many variations in this sauce depends on what herbs are used or what type of tomatoes are used and so on. The recipe that i'm sharing today is the very basic tomato sauce recipe that i had learned from one of Martha Stewart's cook book. 

Many of the recipe available online are using the canned tomatoes, since i'm hardly buying any canned food items other than condensed milk, i'm looking for recipe using fresh tomatoes for long time and finally found it in her cook book . 

It's such a simple recipe and the flavors are really amazing.Here in the recipe, i have used both roma & beefsteak tomatoes just like the original recipe, but i have tried with only roma tomatoes before, that too taste good. 

So don't worry if you can't source any particular tomato variety, try it with whatever tomatoes you have but make sure it's ripen well and in bright color.  Also read that the tomatoes on the vine tastes best for any type of sauce since it's allowed to ripen on the vine, it's juicy and has most flavor. So if possible try to use the tomatoes on the vine. 

Marinara sauce is delicious on pasta and pizza or it can be simple served as dip for your chips. It's such a versatile sauce and can used as many way as possible.  For the given quantity of ingredients list, it yields little more than 1 cup of sauce, it's enough for making one medium size pizza and pasta for two. 

It stays well for a week in refrigerator and i'm not sure how long it last since mostly it would be finished off within a week. If you haven't tried making marinara sauce before, do give this recipe a try, i'm sure that you will love it. Now let's check out this amazing and simple marinara sauce recipe. 

Related : Homemade Pizza dough from scratch

Marinara Sauce | Pizza Sauce from fresh tomatoes

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Sauce | Recipe Cuisine: Italian
Marinara Sauce,Pizza Sauce,Pasta Sauce,Tomato Sauce, How to make Pizza sauce Marinara Sauce is a simple tomato sauce usually made with fresh tomatoes, oil and herbs.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Roma Tomato - 2 
Beefsteak Tomato - 1 
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 3 cloves
Red chili flakes - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - to taste
Salt - to taste

Procedure

In a sauce pan, add water and bring into boil. Make a criss cross on the top and bottom of the tomatoes with knife.Add the tomatoes into the boiling water and let it boil for 3 mins. Remove from the flame, discard the hot water and run it under tap water to let it cool.Remove the skin of the tomatoes and roughly chop into small chunks. Remove the thick center part of the tomato and finely chopped the garlic. Heat the sauce pan with olive oil.Add the garlic, saute till they are aromatic and then add the tomatoes.Next add the salt, sugar,chili flakes & pepper powder.

Related : How to make Corinaer Pesto Sauce

Give a good stir, cover the pot with lid and let it simmer for about 20 mins or until the tomatoes are mushy.Let it cool and then transfer into blender jar and grind into smooth puree. 

Tasty & Versatile Marinara Sauce is ready.

Related : How to make Veggie Pizza with tomato Sauce

Notes:

• Use well ripen and bright colored tomatoes for vibrant sauce.
• Added sugar to balance out the tartness from the tomatoes, but that's totally optional, you can skip it.
• Adjust the seasoning as per your liking.
  

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Idli and dosai are the integral part of Tamil Nadu breakfast menu and it's also one of the healthiest breakfast in the world. Whatever the world claims now as good for your health like probiotic rich, gluten free, vegan and steamed food, idli ticks every one of the checklist. 

For me, more than healthy food, Idli is the most delicious and comforting food in the world. In Tamil Nadu, still people prefer idli as the first solid food for their babies. With all that being said, let's see how to make this super food. The key to make soft and fluffy idli is the batter, if you make the idli batter perfectly, everything else is icing on the cake. 

Back in India, we use a wet grinder to make the idli and dosa batter, but when you live abroad and move frequently, carrying a wet grinder with you is not at all possible all time. So I stick with my Indian mixie to make batter. Compared to a wet grinder, making fluffy idli batter using mixie/blender needs little more attention and tricks.

Next, the fermentation process. The batter should be fermented well and this is again a tricking thing especially when you are in a cold place. Currently I'm living in Canada, before that I lived in Colorado, Michigan, hence  with my personal experience, I have learned a few things about how to ferment batter when the temperature is below freezing outside. So here i'm gonna share all the tips and tricks so far i have learned on how to make perfect idli & dosa batter using mixie / blender in extreme cold weather.

• If you're using mixie / blender, then soaking-time of rice and dal is very important. Longer hour soaking helps to grind the batter easily without running the mixie / blender for a longer time. Long running of mixie /blender generates heat and it will affect the fermentation process. Also a long hour of soaking helps to ferment the batter quickly.

• For grinding the batter in mixie / blender, you need cold water because mixie / blender tends to get heated very quickly which affects the batter temperature, we don't want that to happen, so cold water helps to keep the batter at room temperature while grinding.

• If you're using blenders like ninja or similar one, then cold water is not necessary to grind because it doesn't get heat easily.

• While grinding dal, don't add water all at once, otherwise the batter would be running instead of fluffy. Add water little by little to get that fluffy consistency.Once the dal batter is smooth, don't stop grinding immediately, add water little by little and grind it for couple more run. It gives you that fluffy batter. In Tamil, we use to say "ponga ponga araikurathu". 

• The rice batter shouldn't be super smooth like dal batter, it should have bits of rava like consistency. See the pictures in the step by step instructions to understand more.

• To ferment the batter, it should be kept at room temperature for 8 hrs/overnight. If you live in a cold place like me, keep the batter in the oven with lights on. What should i do if my oven has no light / it's broken ? It happened to me one time :-) . Heat the oven at 350F for 10 mins, switch off the oven and keep the batter, don't open the oven door in between.

• Even if you follow all these steps and the batter doesn't turn out properly, don't lose hope, some times, the rice and dal quality affects the batter, so use good quality rice and dal. If the tap water is hard and has high salt, don't use it, use filter water for grinding. Using hard water gives you that pale color in the idli instead of pure white.

• If you're a beginner, give it a try a couple of times to get that perfect fluffy batter. Still for me, when I move to a new place, it takes a couple of times to get that perfect batter. Like I said earlier , it takes time to find the right brand of rice and urad dal in a new place, identify the correct spot in your oven to place the batter, so it ferments perfectly without under/over done. Like I always say, if i can make it, you can also :-)

Now let's see the FAQs about idli and idli batter.

What is Idli Rice ? 

Idli rice is a short grain parboiled rice and it's used exclusively for making idli and dosa. You can easily find the idli rice in all Indian stores. Nowadays, even Walmart carries idli rice in many stores. 

Other varieties of rice don't work for this recipe !

What's the proportion of idli rice and dal for idli batter? 

This is the most common question that many of my readers ask. In our family we have been using a 4:1 ratio of idli rice and urad dal for years and it yields perfect soft idlis. 

Too much dal in the batter makes the idli soft but it's not spongy and would be flat. Too little dal makes the idli hard. 

What brand of idli rice and dal am i using to make idli batter? 

This is another common question that I have been faced with when i'm sharing my idli platter pictures on social media. Honestly, I never stick to any particular brands of idli rice and urad dal mainly because of our frequent moving to new locations.

Whatever is available in the place, I try to make the best out of it. So try with whatever you can find.  All the tips that i have shared here are learned on trying out various brands :-) 

How to get super white idli? 

Whenever i share my breakfast idli platter on IG or any social media, i get this question ! So let me share what i know from my experience !

• Make sure to use filtered water for grinding the idli, the hard water makes the idli pale yellow color.
• If you're using more than 1:4 proportion of dal and rice, then the idli wouldn't be as white as mine. More dal in the batter yields a pale yellow color idli. 
• Too much of fenugreek seeds also cause pale yellow colour. So when the outside temperature is normal, i skip the fenugreek seeds too.
• Overall, the quality of the rice, dal, water and the proportion play a major role in getting super white idli. 

What are the other ingredients added to make soft idlis? 

I would say that rice and dal are the only two ingredients needed to make perfect soft and spongy idlis. 

Fenugreek seeds are used for flavor and quick fermentation. Since i've been living in cold places for years now, i'm using fenugreek seeds now but back in India, our family usually don't use the fenugreek seeds

Poha and cooked rice are some of the common ingredients used  to enhance the softness of idli. But I have never used them so far in my idli batter.

My breakfast idli platter collage :-)

Why does the idli batter get too sour after fermentation?

The main reason is the over-fermentation. Keep the batter outside for longer hours to ferment makes the batter too sour. 

In general, we know that the batter is fermented when it's risen well. But if your batter is too thick and looking for well risen batter as a sign of good fermentation then most probably you end with too sour batter when it's risen. 

The key of well risen batter is the batter consistency before fermentation. Make sure to keep the batter a little watery(check the step wise pics for understanding) so that when it's risen, the batter will light, airy and have the right amount of sourness.

This is how the batter should look after fermentation

How to ferment the idli batter in cold places ?

This is one of the other common questions that i get whenever i share my idli/batter recipes since i'm currently living in Canada which you know is one of the coldest places in the world. So here are my tips to ferment the idli/dosa batter 

1. So far, i have been keeping my batter in the oven with the lights on for 8-10 hrs and it works like a charm every time. 
2. Depending on your oven-light voltage, the fermenting hrs might vary a little bit.
3. If your oven doesn't have light, then preheat your oven at 350 F for 10 mins and then switch off the oven and place the idli batter inside the oven & keep the door closed, the residual heat from the oven will help to ferment the batter.
4. Another method is to keep a kettle of boiling water in the oven with its pouring cap open along with the batter inside the oven, the hot steam from the kettle helps to ferment the batter. Instead of a kettle, you can also use any heavy pot with a small opening. 
5. What to do when you don't have an oven, then keep the batter near the heater vent which obviously many have in cold places. The hot air from the heater vent is idle for fermenting.
6. Finally if you're having instant pot, then place the batter in the instant pot with yoghurt mode on for 8 hrs, that will give you perfectly fermented batter.

Any important tips for beginners in Idli batter making ? 

Yes :-) Depending on the quality of urad dal, it may yield more or less batter. So here is the one tip from Amma that helped me when I was new in cooking. 

"For soft idli, after grinding, the urad dal batter should be equal or a little more than the rice batter" 

• When you try any new brands of urad dal or rice, for your initial batter making, after grinding roughly measure the rice batter and urad dal batter separately and it will give you an idea on what proportion of rice and urad dal should be soak for the next time.
• If the urad dal batter is less than the rice batter, then soak little extra urad dal next time and vice versa.
• Though i have said "4:1 ratio of idli rice and urad dal", sometimes, urad dal may not yield so much batter. In such a case, follow this tip :-)

Now let's check out on the recipe ! 

 

How to make Soft Idli Recipe | Idli Batter Recipe | Fermentation Tips

Preparation Time : 20 hrs | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 6-8 
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Idli batter recipe, Soft Idli recipe, How to make Soft Idli,Idli batter using mixie, Idli batter using blender Idli and dosai are the integral part of tamilnadu breakfast menu and it's also one of the healthiest breakfast in the world. Whatever the world claims now as good for your health like probiotic rich, gluten free, vegan and steamed food, idli ticks every one of the checklist.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Idli Rice - 4 cups
Urad dal - 1 cup
Fenugreek Seed - 1 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp
Water - 2 & 1/2 - 3 cups

Procedure

Previous night itself, measure and take the rice in a bowl, urad dal and fenugreek in a bowl, wash them thrice and add water to soak them. Keep it in the kitchen counter over night. Keep the water required for grinding in the refrigerator

Next morning, discard the soaked water and first add the urad dal and fenugreek seed in the mixie jar.

Take the cold water from the refrigerator and add just enough to cover the dal and grind into smooth batter. 

In between once or twice, scrape the sides and add couple more tbsp of water and grind them into thick paste like as shown below. Transfer the batter into large vessel.

In the same jar(no need to wash them) add half of the soaked rice and add water just enough to cover the rice and grind into fine but not so fine paste,that means if you take the batter in hands and rub it in between the fingers, there might be tiny bits like rava. That's the correct stage of rice batter. 

Pour the rice batter into the dal batter. Grind the remaining rice batter and add into the dal batter. Next add salt and mix the batter using your hands.

Once all the rice batter and dal batter mixed together throughly, scrape the sides and cover it with lid, place it in the oven with light on for 6-8 hrs to ferment.

After 8 hrs, see how much the batter have risen, mix it with laddle well.

Take the needed batter into another bowl and keep the remaining in refrigerator for later use. Now for idli, you can use the batter straight away, pour the batter in idli mold. 

Place it on idli steamer and steam it for 8-10 mins.

Once it's cooked, remove from the flame and let it rest for 2 mins. 

Then take it out from the mold with spoon and soft idlis are ready to serve. For the dosa, in the same batter, add little water and mix it well.

It should be in easily pourable consistency. Pour the batter in the dosa batter and spread it evenly. Drizzle some oil on the edges and on the top, Crispy dosa is ready.

Serve with sambar and/or chutney/s. We had with idli sambar, coconut chutney and coriander chutney.

Related : Side dish for Idli and Dosa

Related : More varieties of Idli and Dosa

Notes:

• Depends on the weather conditions, fermenting time varies.
• If you're making idli after refrigerate the batter, make sure to bring the batter into room temperature, otherwise the idlis won't be soft.
• Always take the needed batter in a separate bowl and keep the remaining in the refrigerator immediately.
• For dosa, add more water to the required batter only, don't add water to the whole batter.
• The batter stays well up to 7 days in refrigerator, I haven't tried storing the batter more than a week.
• With the same batter, you can make paniyaram also. 

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Bread crumbs, are fine pieces of dried bread used mainly for coating the food items before frying/baking, it gives nice crispness and color to the food. 

Now it's easily available in all grocery stores, then why the need of making them at home ?? that's the question pops in your head right? Because it is the best way of using the stale bread without wasting them. 

I have been making this for long time with different types of bread.In today's recipe,i'm using the baguette, it's hardly take mins to make them. 

So next time when you have stale bread stand sitting idle in your kitchen counter, without a second thought, make this bread crumbs, it stores well for days in room temperature and also it's as good as store brought ones.See how flowing these bread crumbs are !!! 

Ok, now let's checkout the recipe.

Home made Bread Crumbs | Bread Crumbs from Baguette

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Serves : 2 cups 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: General

Ingredients
Baguette bread - 1 loaf

Home made Bread Crumbs | Bread Crumbs from Baguette Bread crumbs, are fine pieces of dried bread used mainly for coating the food items before frying/baking, it gives nice crispness and color to the food.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Procedure

Preheat the oven at 350F. Take the baguette loaf and cut them into small pieces.

Put them into mixie/blender jar and grind them into coarse powder. 

Transfer them into baking sheet and spread them evenly and bake it for 7 to 10 mins, in between take it out once and give a good mix and place it in the oven again.

Homemade Bread Crumbs are ready.

Related : How to make whole wheat bread 

Notes

• Depends on the moisture content in the bread, the baking time varies. Keep an eye on while baking and when it slightly changes its color, remove from the oven.
• Don't keep them in the baking tray after baking, transfer into another bowl to avoid further browning.
• If you wish, you can season them with the herbs you like.

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Vazhaipoo/ Banana Flowers are the blossom that grows on banana plant and it's used in south indian cooking a lot. We make usili, kola urundai, vadai,poriyal with banana flower, all are really delicious and we as a family love them in any form. But cleaning banana flowers is such a painstaking process and also many beginners are not aware of this, so this post might useful for all the beginners in cooking and  experts this post  is not for you :-) but if you're willing to take a look on how i clean my vazhaipoo/banana flower, you're more welcome.
At one time, when we were in hosur and i was still a beginner in cooking then, bought a vazhaipoo, called Amma & asked about the cleaning method and did all the cleaning, it took around 2 hrs. Once finished cooking them, i had noticed that it had a strong bitter taste and wondered why it had such a bitter taste, then again called Amma, she told that very rarely some vazhaipoo/banana flower has strong bitter taste(mild bitter taste is normal) and it's not advisable to consume them. Later i threw them in trash with heavy heart. So always taste a bit of  raw florets, if it doesn't have any bitter taste, proceed cleaning them, else discard them. Lesson learnt that day !!! Ok, now it's time to check out the cleaning method.

How to Clean Vazhaipoo | Banana Flower

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 0 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Basic | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Banana Flower - 1 

Procedure

First take the banana flower, peel the first layer of petal and you can see the banana florets inside, remove them and place it on the plate. Do the same for next couple of petals. Next take one flower in your hand and inside you can see a stamen(the one with round head ) and a transparent layer.Remove them and discard it. Similarly do the same for all the florets. As you go on, the florets became smaller in size inside. At that stage, there is hardly any transparent layer, so just remove the stamen alone.At one stage, you find it hard to remove the petals, at that stage, don't remove the petals, you can used them as it. Just remove the stem from it and chop them along them with florets.That's it, now it's ready to chop and cook.

Notes:

• Your hands may have dark stains while cleaning. To remove that, just apply some coconut oil on hand after cleaning , rub it with tissue paper and wash it with hand wash or you can use the hand gloves to avoid staining.
• Banana florets becomes dark when keep it outside for long. If you're not cooking them immediately, put them in butter milk, it helps to become dark.
  

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