Cherry tomato pasta and garlic are cooked together to make refreshing pasta sauce. A simple yet flavourful summer pasta is ready in under 30 minutes.
This pasta recipe has easily available spaghetti and a bright red, flavorful tomato sauce made from ripe cherry tomatoes. With a few simple everyday ingredients, you can make a simple yet fulfilling dinner for family and friends with minimal effort.
This simple recipe is packed with classic Italian flavors from Olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, basil, and cherry tomatoes. The instructions can be summarized as – cooking the sauce and tossing the spaghetti.
Eaten in moderation, pasta made with cherry tomato sauce is healthy, keeps you lean, improves the health of internal organs, and provides energy from the carbohydrates it packs.
This can be a finished dish and a fulfilling meal by itself. This recipe can also be a base, and you can use something like chicken or shrimp to make a balanced meal with protein. Check out my Cherry Tomato Pasta with Shrimp recipe.
Spaghetti is slender long noodles that have become the most popular pasta. It is inexpensive, easy to make, and made of only – Duram wheat and water. It is a cheap yet versatile pasta that can be paired with sauces with different flavors.
Among other pasta, picking which with a fork might seem skillful to people, spaghetti, as produced by modern companies, is not slippery and come off the plate easily. It makes an excellent base for various sauces and is easy to make and serve on the dining table for many occasions.
I have made a few pasta recipes with tomatoes with slight variation – Sun-dried Tomato Pasta is one with sun-dried tomatoes, Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup is a tomato base, but in a soup with tortellini as pasta.
Paneer Butter Masala Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 18 to 20 cashews whole
- ⅓ cup hot water for soaking cashews
For Tomato Puree
- 2 cup diced, or 300 grams tomatoes or 4 to 5 medium sized, pureed
For Ginger-Garlic Paste
- 1 inch ginger peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves small to medium-sized, peeled
Instructions
- Soak cashews in a hot water for 20 to 30 minutes. When the cashews are soaking, you can prep the other ingredients like chopping tomatoes, preparing ginger-garlic paste, slicing paneer etc.
- Then drain and add the soaked cashews in a blender or mixer-grinder.
- Add 2 to 3 tablespoons water and blend to a smooth and fine paste without any tiny bits or chunks of cashews.
- In the same blender add the roughly chopped tomatoes. No need to blanch the tomatoes before blending.
- Blend to a smooth tomato puree. Set aside. Don’t add any water while blending the tomatoes.
Making Tomato Gravy
Melt butter in a pan on a low heat. Add tej patta and fry for 2 to 3 seconds or till the oil become fragrant.
- Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for about 10 to 12 seconds till the raw aroma disappears.
- Add the tomato puree and stir well. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes stirring a few times.
Notes
- Butter: Use good quality butter. You can add both unsalted or salted butter. Also both yellow butter or white butter can be added.
- Tomatoes: It is best to use fresh, ripe red tomatoes. Add tomatoes which have sweet-tangy taste. Do not add tomatoes which are too sour or tart.
- Tomato puree: Blend the tomatoes to a smooth puree. If you want you can strain the tomato puree also.
- Cashew paste: To blend cashews to a fine consistency, it is better to soak them in hot water for 20 to 30 minutes. Use a good blender to get a smooth creamy cashew paste.
- Replacing cashews: If you don’t have cashews then add almonds. Blanch the almonds in hot water for 30 minutes. Then peel and blend them till smooth with some water.
- Sugar: Addition of sugar depends upon your taste as well as the tanginess present in the tomatoes. So add as per taste. If you add cream then you might have to add less sugar.
- Taste and flavor: If the butter paneer masala gravy tastes tangy or sour, then to balance the sour taste you can add a bit of sugar or cream. But do not add too much sugar as then the gravy becomes too sweet. Also, do note if you add cream then you might have to add less sugar in the sauce or gravy.