It's absolutely been a long, adventurous ride since I last written on this blog. So many things happened and are going on right now, including my one semester experience in Amsterdam. I am now enrolled as an exchange student in Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, continuing my studies in Management. Up until now, so far everything has been really good to me, including this new city I'm now living in. I am currently writing in my compact little flat in Amstelveen -- an area south of Amsterdam. So many dishes cooked, and many more dishes learned -- especially since I have to cook more to save up in this expensive little city.
I've been crazy about going back to my roots and going through Asian flavor profiles lately, and so far I've been loving how (surprisingly) easy it is to cook Asian. Over the years I've been avoiding learning Asian, mostly because the idea of how hard it is to cook Indonesian food and Asian food has been so long instilled in my mind that I just decided to walk away even before I start. I really need to give my boyfriend a special thank you (although I'm pretty sure he's not aware he's subtly doing this) for giving me a slap in the face..... Well not literally.. on the fact that as an Indonesian, I should be able to cook great cuisines of my roots.
However today, I felt a little bit of Western cooking. But I decided to punch in a little bit of Asian to this dish. Here it is: Wholewheat pasta, cinnamon cumin infused tomato sauce, and cheesy meatballs.
Meatballs
Minced beef, about 250g
Salt pepper
Shredded goat's mozzarella, about 5 tbsp
Few heaps tablespoon of flour
Pasta
Wholewheat pasta, as much as you like
Salt to boil
Sauce
Celery, 2 large sticks, cut in small cubes
Red onion, 1 and a half medium ones, cut into cubes
Carrots, 4 small ones, cut into small chunks
Half of a big red chili
1 garlic, crushed then chopped
Tomatoes, 1 and half, chopped into squares
Tomato paste, 1 tsp
Dried basil, 1 tbsp
1 cinnamon stick
Cumin seeds, 1 tsp
Olive oil
Plain flour, 2 tbsp
Water, about a whole glass
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
For the meatballs, simply mix one tbsp of plain flour with the rest of the ingredients until they are all incorporated. Make meatballs using the palm of your hands. Then coat the balls again with a light layer of plain flour. This will make your meatballs crunchy and stays in shape. Let be.
Meanwhile, boil your pasta... You know the drill.
The sauce will be a little tricky. First, heat in your olive oil in a big saucepan. When the oil is hot, put in your red onions, celery, chili, garlic and carrot. After 3 minutes when these veg are translucent and fragrant, put in your cumin seeds. Then season with salt and pepper. Stir in constantly for 3-4 mintues.
Put in a tbsp of plain flour, this will suck in all the excess olive oil in the pan. Put your cinnamon stick in and stir constantly for about 1-2 minutes.
Put in tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, and the dried basil. Pour in cold water as well. Put in the lid of the pan for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, don't forget your meatballs. Fry them on a low layer of oil until crunchy. Then leave it on kitchen paper to keep them crunchy and not oily.
After 5 minutes, you will notice that the sauce has thickened as well. This is time for you to put in another tablespoon of plain flour. Add salt and pepper to taste as well. Be a bit generous with the salt, as you have put in big flavors to the sauce. Salt helps to bring out the flavors as well.
Leave the pan for another 5-7 minutes until the sauce is thick. When done, blitz the sauce with a hand blender for a while -- just roughly, as I like to keep some of the vegetables whole as well.
When done, serve your pasta with sauce and meatballs on the side. Happy eating!
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