Pasta in Red Sauce - No Onion No Garlic

I am not a great fan of pasta but V loves pasta to the core especially when it is loaded with a lot of cheese and flavored with chilli flakes and oregano .
Pasta would always be on his menu when we dined out as I wouldn't make it at home since I was skeptical about the outcome and flavors

Now with the ongoing lockdown , all restaurant outings and dinners have taken a back seat and I thought this was the time to overcome my inhibition and try to satisfy V's craving of a cheesy pasta and I was  very happy with the texture and taste of the pasta and so was V , except for his comment was "some more cheese would have made it top class" ....hahaha that is because the health freak inside me uses cheese sparingly..

So for all the first timers who are skeptical about trying, go ahead and give it a try, it is easy and yummy .

Preparation Time : 20 mins
Cooking Time : 40 mins
Serves : 1
Complexity: Medium

Ingredients
1 cup pasta
3 medium sized tomatoes
1/2 capsicum
2 small green chillies finely chopped
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 olive oil
Basil/parsley/cilantro for garnish
Cheese as needed
Salt
Pinch of sugar

Method

• Boil the pasta al dente (until soft) as per the instructions on the back of the pack . I have used penne pasta here, you could use elbow,fusseli,twisted pasta anything that you like .
• Drain the water through a colander and run cold water over the pasta and let it cool down.
• Grind two tomatoes into a fine puree and keep aside . Chop the other tomato and capsicum into small pieces .
• In a pan , heat the olive oil and saute the green chillies,tomatoes, capsicum .Add some salt and let it cook until the tomatoes get mushy. 
• Add in the puree , oregano and chilli flakes and mix it well along with some sugar .adjust the spice level as per your taste .
• Let the mixture boil and reach a saucy consistency and the raw flavor of the tomato must not be there .
• Switch off the sauce when the desired consistency is reached .
• Arrange the cooked pasta in a bowl, pour this sauce over it , generously grate some cheese and garnish with basil /parsley or thyme .
• I had to use cilantro (kothmir) as basil was unavailable due to the lockdown .
• Serve it hot with some warm toasted bread and enjoy your dinner . 

Notes

If you like garlic ,then saute some finely chopped garlic in olive oil along with the chillies and tomatoes.

Italian seasoning of mixed herbs can also be used instead of just chilli and oregano flakes .
If olive oil isn't available handy you can make use of unsalted butter or any cooking oil like rice bran or sunflower oil .

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