"Things with things in them" and 2-year old gourmets!

"Aren't you hungry? Would you like some dinner?" 

"What do you have for dinner?""

"Pasta"

"What kind of pasta?"

"Shell pasta with vegetables and tomato sauce"

"Can i see it?"

Yes, of course, sweetie, here you go" and i lifted the two-year old with whom I am having this conversation on to the kitchen counter to have a look.

The gourmet brat looks at the pasta from all angles, examining it as critically as any prof would a new theory and then takes her thumb out of her mouth to pronounce judgment : "I don't like things with things in them"!

Well - you try battling over food with a two-year old! I spent the next ten minutes picking "things out of things" before she consented to put a forkful in her mouth!

This was the exchange between the two-year old daughter of some visitors and me! The parents in question must have had quite a time feeding the little tyrant every day - how many Indian dishes can rightly be described as things without things in them and could be considered an almost full meal?! Being the nutrition freak that i am, thanks to my mother and my nutritionist aunt, it is almost impossible for me to envisage making things without things in them!!!

Well, here;s the closest i can come to making things with very few things in them - spaghetti with meatless meatballs!

• Spaghetti - 1 packet - boil as per instructions and rise on cold water

For the sauce:

• Onions - 3 medium - sliced             

  

  meatless meatballs before frying
  

• Garlic - 5-6 flakes
• Tomatoes - 4 large - chopped
• 1 green chili - chopped
• Tomato puree - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 tsp
• Salt
• Nutmeg - grated - 1/4 tsp
• Herbes de Provence - 1/2 tsp (or mixed herbs)
• Coriander - chopped - 2 tbsp
• Hot milk - 1 cup
• Oil - 2 tbsp

Heat oil in a large saucepan and add the sugar. Caramelise. Add onions and stir for a minute. Add garlic and keep stirring till onions are golden brown. Add tomatoes and cook till soft. Blitz with a bar blender for a minute in the same pan till you get  a knobbly puree. Add the tomato puree, salt, nutmeg and herbs and boil. Reserve hot milk and add just before serving.

Meatless meatballs:

• Potato flakes - 1/2 cup or boiled and grated potato - 1.2 cup.
• Gulab jamun mix powder - 1/2 cup
• Grated cheddar (or paneer) - 1/2 cup to mix + 2 tbsp to serve
• 1 green chili - chopped
• Chopped coriander - 1 tbsp
• Marjoram - 1/2 tsp. 
• Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Mix all of these together lightly - do not over-knead - shape carefully into small lemon sized balls and let them rest for 5 minutes. Heat a frying pan or a tawa and shallow fry these, turning over till golden brown. I occasionally bake mine - about 12 minutes. (makes about 16 balls)

To assemble, mix a little olive oil in the spaghetti. Serve one helping. Mix the hot milk into the sauce and spoon over. Add a little grated cheddar on top and place 4-5 "meatballs" on each plate. Sprinkle coriander leaves and serve.

Voila - things with as few things in them as my conscience will allow!