Thread: Recipe 1: Italian Red Tomato Sauce

Hi all,

I am an enthusiastic cook. And when I cook, I don't allow anyone in the kitchen. :32:

Anyway till our admin makes a new section, I could not wait to share with me my own recipe for Italian Red Tomato Sauce (as I posted somewhere else I love Italian food). Anyway here goes:

Basic Ingredients:

1. 7-8 Ripe Red Tomatoes (large sized about 2" in diameter)
2. 6-8 cloves of garlic
3. 6-7 Mushrooms
4. One large onion
5. 2 tea spoons Basil (fresh is better but dried also will work)
6. 2 large table spoons of Olive oil (if olive oil is not there use corn or soya oil)
7. 1 tea spoon Oregano
8. 1 tea spoon of (dried) Mixed Italian Herbs
9. 2 teaspoons of fresh Parsley (if availble)
10. 2 tea spoons of sugar
11. Half a cup of cooking wine
12. Salt to taste
13. 1 tea spoon of corn starch
14. Tomato Red colour (buy good quality only)

Tomato Puree Preparation:

1. Boil a litre of water in a large vessel like pressure cooker pan
2. After water starts boiling, remove the tomatoes straight from the fridge and wash them.
   (It is important that tomatoes are cold.)
3. Add tomatoes to boiling water and cover 2 mins
4. Remove tomatoes. You will see that tomatoes are firm but the skin is peeling off (that is why tomatoes need to be cold so that they do not become soggy).
5. Peel off the skin and cut the tomatoes in half. De-seed them.
6. Blend the tomatoes in a blender into a fine puree.

The Sauce:

1. Peel the onion skin and chop it into large pieces (like the size we see in a pizza).
2. Wash and chop the mushrooms into small pieces (not too small)
3. If using fresh basil chop it fine to make 2 teaspoon full.
4. If parsley is available, chop it fine to make 2 teaspoon full.
5. In a large kadhai or wok heat the oil (olive or otherwise).
6. Fry half of the mashed garlic and reserve the rest for later.
7. Add the chopped onions and fry till they are just turning brown. Don't let them turn brown.
8. Add chopped mushrooms and let them fry on medium heat for a minute or so.
9. Add basil, parsley, mixed herbs and oregano and fry on medium heat for a minute or so.
10. Add the wine and sugar and let it heat on medium heat for half a minute.
11. Add the tomato puree followed by rest half of the chopped garlic.
12. Add salt to taste.
13. Heat on medium for 4-5 minutes.
14. Add a pinch of tomato red colour to make the sauce reddish.
15. Caution: Add starch by sprinkling. Do not add all the starch at once. Starch is meant to thicken the sauce only. Do not add too much starch. Note that sauce will start to thicken a 30-second or so later after starch is added. So add/sprinkle a little. Check the thickness and repeat. It is quite likely that you may not need to add starch at all.

The above sauce will suffice to make Spaghetti Bolognese for 4-6 people. Use the sauce within a week max while keeping it refrigerated.

Do not forget to comment - especially the ladies

Wow!! You can pen a Cook BOOK, next time, I too cook, but Only I end up eating it. Hehe.

Originally Posted by relton

Wow!! You can pen a Cook BOOK, next time, I too cook, but Only I end up eating it. Hehe.

LOL. What is the point of cooking if no one will eat the stuff?

Sounds great, I will be sure to pass it n to the lady in my life, i am not a very good cook myself and would probably ruin it.

I don't think she would be too keen on using the red colouring though, can it be missed out, or is it a vital ingredient?

I am not a cook myself..but will definitely ask my mom to try this...
The dish smells tasty..

Originally Posted by just4kix

LOL. What is the point of cooking if no one will eat the stuff?

Hehe, With great power comes great responsibility:stuart:, Well, I don't cook so bad, just limited stuff, with passage of age, I will become better.

Nice recipe man... I'll definitely give it a try... I love to cook myself... but on occasions... I'll post few of my recipes soon... Thanks for sharing...

Now tell me something you dont do kixy lol............................................... ...

That sounds really good! I love some good Italian food.

Nice keep it up! ... i ll try this out on this weekend ....Will let u know the result

i dont cook myself, but i ll definitely try this sometime.

Sounds very yummy, will defiantly try it out. And cant wait for your other recipes.

Just4kix when are you planing to make kadaai paneer or paneer biryani

Originally Posted by gurusam

I am not a cook myself..but will definitely ask my mom to try this...
The dish smells tasty..

Thank you. But this is just a pasta sauce. You need to make pasta and mix this sauce with other ingredients. I will post something later.

Originally Posted by andasay

Sounds great, I will be sure to pass it n to the lady in my life, i am not a very good cook myself and would probably ruin it.

I don't think she would be too keen on using the red colouring though, can it be missed out, or is it a vital ingredient?

Red colour is not an essential ingradient but without the red colour the sauce will look pale red and not very appetizing. It is essential to make the food look good as well as tasty. For example, what would the tandoori chicken feel like if it was not orange coloured?

Originally Posted by parshanth

Now tell me something you dont do kixy lol............................................... ...

Oh. There are lots of things I don't have a clue about.

Originally Posted by smoothvibes

Just4kix when are you planing to make kadaai paneer or paneer biryani

I will try to post some thing for sure.

Originally Posted by Preeti_20

Sounds very yummy, will defiantly try it out. And cant wait for your other recipes.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Alexina

i dont cook myself, but i ll definitely try this sometime.

You should. I guarantee that you will like it. But it does best with non-vegetarian ingredients for the pasta.

You should write a book you know.

This does sound great, I will give it a try and let you know how I get on.

Originally Posted by ShAdOwCoN

Nice keep it up! ... i ll try this out on this weekend ....Will let u know the result

Successfully cooked your Italian tomato sauce and Spaghetti Bolognese [edible version ]....cheers :thumbup1:

Originally Posted by ShAdOwCoN

Successfully cooked your Italian tomato sauce and Spaghetti Bolognese [edible version ]....cheers :thumbup1:

Congratulations on taking the first step.

The great advantage of this Tomato Sauce is that it can be used in many different dishes!

Although i have a question for you J4K, i have a friend who doesn't drink alcohol and doesn't eat onions or garlic so what could she use instead of these things, although i think that onions and garlic are essential in the taste and flavor of the sauce! But however she doesn't eat these things so please recommend and alternative or suggestion!

Without onions or garlic, 80% taste is gone. I believe that that are substitute flavours of garlic available but honestly I cannot comment on them.

Your friend can still try without onions and garlic but I am assuming that it will not taste the same.

Wine (alcohol) is totally optional but cooking wine should not be considered as alcohol. Almost all medicinal syrups are alcohol based.

Thats very true, and other medication have something from animals too. But for those who don't eat for religious reasons don't understand that, but then its there own life and choice.
But thinking theoretically its doesn't make sense to be a pure veg, not have anything to do with animal products, but then take medications which contain animal products/substances, like you said cough syrups (which contain alcohol) and so on!

I don't mean to be rude but i don't understand the concept of when people don't eat onions and garlic (what my friend does), but still goes out and eats pizza and eats ketchup and these two products have onion and garlic in them as well. I don't have anything against it but if your going to give up something give it up totally if not then dont give up.

Personally i feel that the taste of garlic is very nice and quite different and when adding this to dishes it makes a lot of difference.

I normally buy the ready made pasta sauces, but i did try your recipe this time, but I had problem finding oregano, parsley and Italian herbs!

Its cooking right now, so will let you guys know what the taste it like after its cooked!

If you order a Pizza for home delivery, they deliver it with a small satchet of Oregano. Oregano and other Italian herbs are available in food chain shops such as IndiaBulls Mart.

I know you are averse to artificial colours but without the tomato red colour, the sauce will not look apetizing enough. Buy good quality colour.

i dont think so....i make the sauce myself from fresh tomatoes...n its got the right colour....

i wud definately not add colour to food!!!!!

It is a personal choice. I buy good quality imported (liquid) colours. Without color the sauce will look pale red.

All bottled (ready made) sauces have colour in them - even the plain tomato ketchup.

obviously who wudnt buy good quality stuff?

yeah i kno tht.....but when i m making it fresh than y add colour...!!!!! nyways i like the colour red that i get naturally from the tomatoes!!!!

definately its a personal choice...!