Spaghetti Pasta in Tomato Sauce Recipe

     Pasta is a universal kids favorite recipe. Its been a long time since I tried pasta recipes after broccoli pasta. Every time I pass by the pasta aisle in Walmart, I will be so tempted to buy them. 
     When Mani's friends came to visit golu last year, they had so thoughtfully bought two saplings as I like gardening - one was mint and the other was basil. You may be wondering why I suddenly jumped into an irrelevant story !! Yes, there is a reason :P I could not save the basil plant from the snowstorm. I felt guilty and bought some basil seeds during spring this year. Planted them and they are growing so beautifully. I do not know much to do with the basil in cooking and at the same time I haven't tried many pasta recipes. So connecting both, I wanted to try many pasta dishes before the basil plant wilts :P
So here I come with a recipe of spaghetti pasta decorated with basil leaves!! (grown at home... hee hee..) 

Prep Time: 10 mins || Cook Time: 30 mins || Serves: 2 || Category: Pasta dishes/Kids recipes

Ingredients:
1. Spaghetti pasta - 150gm (or any kind of pasta)
2. Tomato - 3
3. Olive oil - 1 tbsp
4. Onion - 1
5. Oregano - 3 tsp (or mixed herbs)
6. Basil leaves - a handful
7. Salt - as required
8. Tomato sauce - 2 tsbp
9. Parmesan cheese - 1 tbsp (grated)

Method:
1. Slit tomatoes and blanch them in boiling water for 5 mins. Once the skin peels off, switch off the flame and drain the water. Run through cold tap water for a min and then peel off the skin from the tomatoes. 

2. Cool them and grind to a puree without adding water. In the same pan used for blanching tomatoes, add the spaghetti with required amount of water. Drizzle a few drops of olive oil and cook for 8-10 mins.

3. Cook with intermediate stirring till the pasta becomes soft and absorbs all the water. Transfer the cooked pasta to a plate. 

4. In the pan add some olive oil and throw in the onions, oregano and saute for 2 mins. Then add basil leaves and cook till the onions are translucent.

5. Add the chopped tomato and cook till it becomes mushy. 

6. Add the tomato puree and mix well. Allow it to cook for 3-4 mins. Then add the cooked pasta, salt and stir well. 

7.  Add a spoon of tomato sauce and mix well. Cook till the tomato puree has been absorbed by the pasta. Garnish with grated parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of oregano.

Suggestions:

• Regular canola oil or vegetable oil can be used in the place of olive oil. 
• If available, ready made tomato puree can be used.
• I have used spaghetti pasta here. It can be substituted with any other pasta variety like bowtie, fettucine etc
• Mixed herbs can be used to give more flavor.