Low Fat Vegan Tomato Pasta Sauce ~ With Stepwise Pictures

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On the days that I have pasta on the menu, if I happen to be short on time,  I don't mind using store bought pasta sauces. But store bought pasta sauces are not my first preference. Firstly the taste and freshness of the homemade version easily surpasses the store bought version. Additionally if I happen to have a large jar, I have to worry about storing the balance of the sauce and using it up fairly soon so that it does not spoil.

Increasingly I find myself turning to quick and easy pasta sauces that do not take too much time and effort, yet have the fresh homemade taste. The additional benefit, as with any homemade food, is that I get to see exactly what goes in and enjoy the food without any guilt. This low fat pasta sauce is one of the pasta sauces I make often these days. The first time I made it I was amazed at how quick and tasty it turned out, since then I have made it quite a few times and it always turns out consistently good.

Looking for pasta recipes ? Here are a few other pasta recipes in this space
Pasta with roasted Red bell pepper sauce
Thai Inspired Pasta
Southwestern pasta salad

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Ingredients and Method to make Tomato pasta Sauce (adapted from this recipe)
1 red onion cut fine (pyaaz/ vengayam)
1 green bell pepper/ capsicum deseeded and cut into 1/4 inch pieces (simla mirch/ koda molagai)
2 cups diced tomatoes (I needed 3 med large tomatoes for this ) (tamatar/ thakkali)
1 Tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic peeled and cut fine. (lehsun/ poondu)
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper ( or 1/2 tsp black pepper powder)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Prep all the vegetables. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add onion  and garlic and saute until onions are translucent.

Add tomatoes and green bell pepper. Add salt, dried basil, dried oregano and crushed red pepper and stir until the tomatoes and bell pepper is cooked and soft.

Remove from heat, allow to cool and puree until smooth. Place back in pan, heat and serve over cooked pasta of choice. Store leftover sauce after it cools thoroughly in a glass bottle or air tight container in the refrigerator and use within a couple of days for freshest taste.

I served it over multigrain elbow pasta and this quantity of sauce is enough for about 2 and 1/2 cups of dried pasta cooked as per manufacturers directions.

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Thai Inspired Pasta and an update :)

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First the update :) Regular readers of this site may have noticed that the share on twitter and facebook buttons at the top right of each post have disappeared since the last week. Well they haven't actually disappeared they have just been relocated. You will now find these buttons just below the title of each post. In addition to the usual share on facebook and twitter buttons I have also added a couple of new ones. One is the like on facebook that wasn't available before. The second is the pin it button for those of you who are on pinterest and wish to add any recipe to your pinterest board. The pin it button is not visible on the home page, but if you select the post or specific recipe that you want to pin, you will find the button to the right of the facebook share and like button.

Moving on to the pasta. This Thai inspired pasta is inspired by another pasta with the same name on this very site :) This version uses peanut butter, but does not use any coconut milk or thai curry paste. Instead it is a simple combination of ginger, peanut butter and soy sauce among other things to give this pasta a more Thai inspired flavor. This one's is becoming quite a favorite with us and I have been making this fairly frequently the last few months.  I mean what's not to like, it is easy to make, tastes delicious and is very quick to put together too :)  Perfect for those rushed weekdays or weekends when you do not want to spend too much time in the kitchen and yet want something light and nutritious :)



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Ingredients and Method to make Thai Inspired Pasta

For the peanut butter pasta sauce
3 tbsp honey (use agave nectar for a vegan version)
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp vinegar
6 tbsp smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup packed finely cut cilantro (coriander leaves)

For the pasta
14 oz multi grain angel hair pasta prepared as per manufacturer's directions
4 spring onions (green onions) cut fine both white and green parts (can be substituted with 1 finely cut onion in a pinch )
1 green bell pepper (capsicum) deseeded and cut fine
1 large or 2 medium sized carrots grated
salt to taste
crushed red pepper to taste
1 tbsp oil
1 inch ginger minced fine
peanut butter sauce (recipe follows)

For the sauce
In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients mentioned under sauce except cilantro and blend together or whisk together until it blends well. Add finely cut cilantro to the sauce and mix well. Keep sauce aside.

For the pasta.
Prepare pasta as per manufacturer's instruction, drain and keep aside. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil, add spring onions to it and saute until cooked to a tender crisp. Add ginger and stir a few times.
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Add bell pepper, carrots, salt to taste and stir until cooked to a tender crisp. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, assemble cooked and drained pasta, peanut butter sauce and sauteed vegetables. Toss together to mix well. Sprinkle crushed red pepper to taste (if using) and serve immediately.

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Pasta with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce and some humor.

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Recently, I received an email with pictures of a lot of billboards and road signs. Not ordinary road signs, but ones that are unintentionally funny, some of them, downright hilarious. I posted a couple of them here. Notice the second one......that particular sign had me in splits. I think I am never going to look at lime juice in the same way ever again :-)



Moving on,  I rarely make pasta sauce from scratch, but when I came across this idea I  was instantly intrigued. I tweaked the recipe a fair bit, customizing it to our taste. The end result was a sauce that tasted pretty awesome.I used to think that making pasta sauce would be a very time consuming job, but it really turned out to be quite simple and quick.



Baking the peppers does not require much supervision, and after removing it from the oven, the only other step is to puree all the ingredients.This sauce tastes delicious over just plain pasta too, but if you want to add more veggies to the pasta you can try this with mushrooms or green bell pepper or any other vegetable of choice. It tastes pretty good in all combinations :)



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Ingredients and Method to make Mushroom pasta with red bell pepper sauce

For the pasta
1 large onion sliced lengthwise
8 oz (approx 266 gms) of button mushrooms sliced thin (can be substituted with 1 large or 2 med green bell peppers (capsicum/kodamolagai) deseeded and cut into thin long strips.
3 cups of dry whole grain or multi grain pasta (of any variety. I have used penne/ elbow pasta for this recipe most often ) ( I use barilla) cooked as per manufacturers instructions.
red bell pepper sauce as required (recipe below)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic (or to taste)
1 tsp crushed red pepper (or to taste)
salt to taste

For the sauce (see notes)
2 Large Red Bell peppers cut into thin strips
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 dry red pepper/ dry red chili
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt

Pre heat oven to 450 deg F

Place red bell pepper strips on a foil lined cookie sheet or flat tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until small brownish/blackish spots begin to appear on the bell peppers. Turn once in between. It may take a little more or less time depending on the thickness of the bell peppers.

Once it is done, remove bell peppers from the oven and cool to room temperature. Puree the bell peppers along with dry red pepper, parsley, salt to taste and the yogurt to a smooth paste. Add a few tsps of water if required and blend again. Keep this sauce aside. (I did not need any water for this sauce)

Prepare pasta as per manufacturers directions. Drain and place the pasta in a large bowl and keep aside 

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add garlic and stir until the garlic has browned a little. Add onions and saute till transparent. Add mushrooms (or bell pepper if using that) and stir until  cooked and soft yet firm.
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Add crushed red pepper, salt to taste and the pureed sauce and mix well. Allow the sauce to heat for a few minutes. Add this sauce on top of the pasta, mix well and serve immediately or place pasta on individual plates, and pour sauce as required over it and serve.

serves approximately 2 to 3

Notes:
If you like the flavor of roasted garlic and want a stronger garlic taste, you can place a clove or two of garlic along with the red bell pepper in the oven to roast a little and then puree along with the red bell pepper.

If you do not want any additional vegetables, this sauce can be served over plain pasta too. I've had it with sauce and a sprinkling of parsley and crushed red pepper, tastes good that way too :) 

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