Quick & easy pizza sauce

Of all the photos I took of food on Adya’s b’day, this was the best imho :). This also had his most favourite shirt at the moment & we literally have to hide this shirt from him since he wants to wear this all day every day. This shirt was bought by D for his 2nd b’day and he’s going to outgrow this shirt in probably less than a month. When we went shopping for his 3rd b’day, we literally went to all possible kid stores (including this pizza shirt brand which is osh kosh btw) out there to find him a similar shirt (sadly, as kids grow, the cute shirts/ t-shirts start to reduce in numbers). Anywho, when I was taking the final pic of this pizza sauce, I couldn’t think of a better background for this than this cute lil shirt with pizza slices on it which Adya’s crushing on totally at the moment :).

Anywho, about the recipe.. I have been wanting to stop buying pizza sauces from outside & start making my own since the store bought ones have a lot of additives and if we can make a simple, easy, less time consuming version which tastes great, then why not. The authentic pizza sauce recipe is made using ripe tomatoes. However, that ones take much more time than this one owing to the tomatoes having a lot of water content and all. This sauce version is super quick, super simple & tastes absolutely delicious.

Note to self is to water this down the next time I make it or water it down before I use it. I freeze pizza sauces generally so that it can be kept for long & have done the same with this batch as well. So before using it, need to thaw the sauce :). This whole thing can be pulled together in 10 minutes & tastes absolutely amazing. The next time you want to make a pizza/ pasta, don’t buy the sauce make this version.

Ha, nothing above changes and infact I have clearly worked on the note part above :). What I realised here is the tomato puree you buy is important for the consistency you get in the end. Having been making pizza sauces often now, I figured some brands though says puree the consistency is much thicker. Pomi is a brand I came across where the tomato puree is nice n liquidish. So ever since I figured that out, I use that to make my sauces and they turn out really well. The cooking time is also way less than what I used to make initially (not sure if the initially brand I used had more additives since it used to take a while for the raw smell to wean off).

Below is the original pic when I put up the post initially. I tried to recreate the same setup while redoing this recipe :).

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Quick & easy pizza / pasta sauce

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

 

Course: Dips

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 1 cup

Ingredients

• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1 small onion 1/4 cup finely chopped
• 12 small garlic pods
• 2 tsp dried italian herbs
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/8 tsp salt
• few fresh basil leaves optional

Instructions

1. Finely chop onions & grate garlic.

2. In a kadai/ pan heat some olive oil & while the oil is still cold, add the grated garlic. 

3. When the garlic starts to brown, add finely chopped onion. 

4. Saute till onion turns translucent.

5. Pour in the tomato puree and immediately add all the seasonings - red chilli flakes, black pepper powder, dried italian herbs, salt & sugar.

6. Mix everything well. Let the whole mixture start bubbling up (roughly 1-2 minutes on medium/high heat).

7. Turn off the heat & sprinkle fresh basil leaves.

8. Allow the mixture to completely cool down before storing it in an

9. Use this as a sauce for pizza/ pasta, spread on bread or use it as a dip. 

Recipe Notes

1. I always have a batch of this in my freezer. A few hours before I need to use it, I keep it out in room temp for it to thaw (sometimes when in a hurry I microwave it but this is not a good idea).
2. You can add extra pepper/ red chilli flakes if you want more spice.
3. You could add fresh herbs like basil if you have it on hand.

Stepwise pictures

Finely chop onion & grate the garlic. In a kadai/ pan heat some olive oil & while the oil is still cold, add the grated garlic.

When the garlic starts to brown, add finely chopped onion. Saute till onion turns translucent.

Then pour in the tomato puree.

Along with it, add all the seasonings – red chilli flakes, black pepper powder, dried italian herbs, salt & sugar

Mix everything well. Let the whole mixture start bubbling up (roughly takes 1-2 mins on medium/ low heat).

Turn off the heat & sprinkle fresh basil leaves.

Allow the mixture to completely cool down before storing it in an airtight container. Use this as a sauce for pizza/ pasta, spread on bread or use it as a dip.

Chop the onion & garlic into very small pieces. In a pan/ kadai, pour in the olive oil & add the garlic pieces when the oil is still cold.

Wait for the oil to get heated & for the garlic to start browning. At this stage, add the finely chopped onion.

Saute for 1 minute on medium to high heat or till the onion starts to brown.

Add the tomato puree/ paste at this stage & mix everything together. Let the paste cook for 2-3 minutes on medium to high heat.

Throw in the dry seasoning at this stage – red chilli flakes, black pepper powder, dried italian herbs, salt & sugar. Mix well.

Add some water at this stage to make the paste a little watery (I did not do this but felt I could’ve done it). Keep an eye on the mixture & just stir it here & there to make sure it doesn’t burn. You could close the mixture with a lid to speed up the process.

After around 5-7 minutes, the raw smell from the tomato paste/ puree will be gone completely & the whole mixture will be well incorporated with the seasoning. Turn off the heat at this stage & let the mixture cool down.

Once the mixture is completely cooled down, transfer to an airtight jar & refrigerate and use within a week. If you want to keep it for longer, freeze the mixture. Use this mixture as pizza/ pasta sauce or as a spread on top of bread.