Spaghetti with garlic and red chilly flakes

I ate this spaghetti first time when I was in St Petersburg. Being a vegetarian pushed us to look for Italian restaurants and we came across this place with this wonderful spaghetti and i instantly fell in love with it. I can never forget the tremendous taste. Since then I have tried to make it many a times and have recently achieved nearly the same taste.
I read somewhere about the importance of garlic in food. Besides being healthy, it gives wonderful taste to the food. There are basically three types of garlic-
American garlic, which is white skinned and has the strongest flavor.
Italian garlic, which has mauve colored skin and is more mild flavored.
Elephant garlic which is huge and has the mildest flavor of the three.
When choosing, look for firm heads with dry skins that feel heavy for their size. Stay away from any that are shriveled, brittle, turning yellow or comes in a jar already cut up. And definitely garlic powder is no substitute for the real garlic.

Ingredients-

• 1 pound dried spaghetti,
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes, plus more if desired
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• freshly ground black pepper corns

1. In a large pot, bring to boil spaghetti in the salted water. Cook until done, for about 6 to 8 minutes.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil and garlic over medium heat in a heavy saucepan until the garlic begins to turn pale gold. (Please, take the time to smell the cooking garlic and oil). It's important not too burn the garlic or else it will become bitter. Also, add the red pepper flakes and saute for 1 minute.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and add 3/4 of the parsley, salt & pepper to taste.
4. Meanwhile, quickly drain the spaghetti in the colander.
5. Place the spaghetti into the pan and mix well for 1 minute until spaghetti is well-coated.
6. Serve in warmed plates and use the remaining parsley to garnish and serve immediately.

Spicy Cauliflower

Ingredients-
1/2 kg cauliflower florets cut in equal size (not very small), washed
finely chopped one inch ginger
finely chopped 4-5(if big pod) garlic or the complete 1 pod if the cloves are small in size
finely chopped 2 green chillies
finely chopped tomatoes 1 big
2 tablespoons of cooking oil, jeera or cumin one teaspoon, pinch of asafoetida
half a teaspoon of turmeric and salt to taste

Add oil to the wide kadai or not so shallow pan, put it on the low flame, add cumin seeds with a pinch of asafoetida and wait for it to turn light brown (you can make out with the smell). Then add chopped garlic, ginger and chillies. Fry it on the low flame till they turn brown and then add cauliflower florets. Cover it with the lid and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium-low flame, then add turmeric powder and chopped tomatoes and again cover it for 3-4 minutes. Add salt and cover again for 3-4 minutes. When you feel that cauliflower is nearly done (it should not turn soft, has to be slightly crunchy in taste), remove the lid and put it on high flame to dry the excess water, add chopped coriander while tossing it in the high flame. After drying out the excess water, the spicy gobi or cauliflower is ready to serve with chapatis.

Chatpata Sandwich

This is my desi style of making sandwiches, I just love it. Try it out...

You will need couple of slices of bread, (in fact for this sandwich I use special Cyprus sesame loaf and also I have tried with bran bread...it awesome, you feel forget that you are eating bran, if nothing any bread will do), some mayonnaise, in fact initially I have started making with labenah (Thick creamy cheese, often spiced and used as a dip) which is available widely in the middle east. Then you need some onions, sliced horizontally(like long strips), tomatoes again sliced in long and thin manner, coriander finely chopped with some green hot chillies also finely chopped. some desi ghee or butter to toast it on the flat pan.

Mix sliced onions, tomatoes, chopped coriander and chillies with some seasoning of crushed black pepper, salt to taste. Then spread labenah or mayonnaise on the bread, be generous with it and on both the sides. Add the mixture in good quantity in the sandwich and then toast from both the sides on medium flame, on the flat pan with slight brushing of desi ghee or butter (not much but if added more it will enhance the taste).
Variation-You can spread some coriander-mint chutney over labenah or mayonnaise on one side of the and extra-hot Maggie chilly sauce on the other slice of bread.

This dish will certainly add flavour to you Sunday mornings and give you a kick in the picnics.