CHILLI GARLIC TOMATO SAUCE

I did not take a decent picture of this condiment, never actually thought of blogging about it. It was only after tasting it with the bread and mushroom few months back that I realised its pretty tasty, way better than the store bought ones. Now, there is a thing about "store bought".... in one row I get to see different brands and quality of sauces, prices ranging from 2$ to 12$. Given I am a miser, I cannot buy the one priced @ 12$, I settle for a 4-5 $ one, was just thinking how about preparing basic sauces at home just like this CHILLI GARLIC TOMATO SAUCE  or a green chilli sauce.... I mean we can prepare at home the very basic sauces, chutneys, pickles that require minimal and common ingredients. What we should do is make them in smaller batches at regular intervals, try them alongside rice and bread varieties or on wraps. Trust me it is a very good idea because sauces take less time to prepare, vinegar alone can play the role of a preservative, doing so we can avoid the intake of unnecessary chemicals that may harm our body. Considering all pros & cons and my ample free time, I have started the wise exercise, would you?

I do not know why I am feeling restless today, it usually happens when people either target me or something that I love.... that can be a person, a feeling, a tribe, a clan, my pride. You definitely can play matches among yourselves, the world is a place to meet more people and shake hands but definitely not at the cost of the sanctity of my courtyard.... I will not take time to retaliate if so. That may look very silly of a 48 year old, but I am helplessly whimsical. I will do what I think I should. I will tolerate one's attitudes only if one has helped me at least at one point in life, else you do not have anything to do in my life, at least in the social media forums. Did not I dig a grave for my younger baby which happens to be my blog behaving like this? Oh yes, I know how true it is but I cannot be otherwise. I do not use my blog only for my recipes to go viral and reach heights of acceptability, I also wished to make my life an open book doing so. I am not being able to reach the amount of readers I wish to is true, after the son gets settled down in life in few years, I may look for an editor / proof reader who would turn my miserably poor English & Grammar to a decent something and be able to give me the pleasure to see my life & cooking in print. Oh God! day dreamers hardly reached anywhere without the effort of making oneself capable. I see girls travelling alone around the world and our mother made a dumb out of me, the scene she created when I travelled alone to Houston with our littler is unforgettable. This was because I stayed there alone at a hotel for three days as the ship was late to reach the port. 

Was I at peace and confident there? I would have died out of fear had Amit & Ujjaini were not there or a newly wed Bangladeshi officer Harun and his wife had not been  there in the adjacent room in the hotel due to join the same ship. When I called the mother to give her the comforting news, she asked me to stay stuck to that honeymooning couple all day, imagine. Now her daughter-in-law goes for training & seminar to other states, the momci-in-law thinks she is desperate and smart.... tell me who made me into this? BTW, taking pride in saying that my brother's wife works at a leading school in Kolkata, teaching mathematics at the middle school level there should not cause bitterness in others, or saying that I manage my home pretty well with dettol cleaners, incense sticks considering it my temple does not mean I am taking a dig at anyone.... I do not know why some souls are so complicated, so unconfident of themselves that they have to shout at every gathering how big they are, why they could not learnt to be humble till date. Coming to me, my mother and husband are equally responsible turning me into a worthless.... I did not learn anything beyond homemaking, this guy is not letting me start a food home delivery business, the mother makes secret calls to people urging them not to bother her girl to stress much.... secret because she still wants her girl to be spoon fed, secret because I do not want her to speak much, beyond a limit.

Our island is waiting for a long weekend, I do not believe in a divide and rule policy ever since I learnt to take note of few things..... I have to go ahead with a home-made, vegetarian sauce CHILLI GARLIC TOMATO SAUCE done with few ingredients like chilli padi, tomato, garlic, etc. You see I got so scared looking at the condition of my in-laws that I am more into home cooked stuffs, keeping myself engaged at least in few areas of interest. Their major problem is being mentally & physically idle which took a severe toll on their physical health. The son took egg fried rice today for lunch, home-made bread pudding and apple in the snack box. How old would have been my mother-in-law when her kids were at school? The father packed their lunch boxes everyday while the mother slept till noon. He never uttered a word against her sedentary lifestyle, did he do any good to her doing so? An active, self-sufficient, diligent person like him is scared to go to the toilet alone today, why? The reason is that each morning his routine is the same, he has to see the same face cribbing about diseases all day, no friends coming in, no interest to visit people... is this a healthy way of life? 

Our father, the champion of "bindasgiri" had a "chompakoli" death, he went for morning walk, to his club to play bridge, never knew what mental illness is, laughed, chatted with the son before going to the ultimate comatose state. I want the same life and death as of my father, will pass off silently having "muri chanachur makha".... before the d-day I will have to cook for a week long stacking enough food for my beloveds.

INGREDIENTS : 

RED CHILLI : 5-6 [I USED CHILLI PADI]
RIPE TOMATO : 5-6
GARLIC CLOVE : 3-4 [BIG SIZED, ELSE 6-7]
DRY RED CHILLI : 2
CORIANDER SEED : 1/2TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP
VINEGAR : 1TBSP


PROCEDURE :

Dry roast the cumin, dry red chilli, coriander on a tawa for 1-2 minutes at low heat, once cool ground them to a coarse powder. 

Now wash the tomatoes and roughly chop. Wash the red chillies or chilli padi, discard the root end, half and take off the seeds. Peel and wash the garlic cloves.

Take the washed tomatoes pieces, garlic and de-seeded chillies in a pressure cooker, add 1 coffee mug of water to it. Add little salt and the turmeric.

Close the lid, pressure cook at the lowest heat up to 2 whistles. Take down and let cool.

Open the lid, transfer the entire content to a blender. Add 1tsp of the ground spices, the chaat masala, salt as required, the sugar, the vinegar to it.

Blend at high for 3-4 minutes with intervals. Strain through a very thin, white, clean cloth. We get a bliss called home-made Chilli Garlic Tomato sauce, a yum condiment.