Spaghetti Marinara with Chickpea Sweet Potato Balls

These Chickpea and Sweet Potato Balls were actually meant to go into sandwiches as burgers. But the first time round I didn't freeze them enough and made a huge burger out of them which threatened to disintegrate all the time I was trying to fry it. It had to be topped off with melted cheese and sauce to make it stay together. So I decided to fix it with a binding agent- mashed rice and top it off with bread crumbs. The Marinara sauce was an experiment I made earlier this week. This was my first attempt at a homemade pasta sauce. The only other time is when I tried to create my own mushrooms in white sauce dish in the first month that I started cooking. Anyone with the least experience in cooking can tell you that a homemade pasta sauce is definitely not level 1 cooking. So you can imagine that the only reason that mock alfredo sauce tasted good was because of all the cream I put in.

Marinara Sauce is one of those 3-4 ingredient recipes which are a quick fix and a much healthier option to store bought sauces. I flicked this recipe out of the New York Times cooking section and modified it. One piece of warning however is that Indian Tomatoes do not work as well as you want them to in this recipe because they are much more sour than their international counterparts. A good idea maybe to replace them with cherry tomatoes or attempt a re-calibration of the taste with a little sugar or ketchup.  The chickpea and sweet potato balls are my own concoction based on some taste memories of aloo tikkis.

Also spaghetti marinara is not a very traditional combination. The marinara sauce freezes well and can be typically used over pizzas and possibly smaller pastas. In fact after I made this sauce, I tasted it for the first time over fusilli pasta. But bolognese is something I cannot make, so I guess this was my way of making Spaghetti Bolognese with meatballs.

On my Kitchen counter:

Spaghetti

For the marinara sauce:

3 medium sized tomatoes

4-5 garlic cloves

Olive oil- 3 tbsp

Salt

Oregano

Chilli Flakes

Mixed seasoning (Italian)-optional

Ketchup- 2 tsp or Sugar 2 tsp

For the sweet potato balls:

2 sweet potato tubers

Handful of chickpeas

Chaat masala

Salt

Red chilly powder

Garam masala powder

Breadcrumbs

Cooked rice

Vegetable oil to shallow fry

Boil the chickpeas and sweet potatoes each for 13-15 minutes until soft and well done.

Mash together and add salt, add the chaat masala, red chilly powder and garam masala powder.

Add the cooked rice and bring together to a moulding consistency. 

Roll it in breadcrumbs and shallow fry over medium heat in vegetable oil.

Keep turning them so they cook evenly.

Can freeze left overs as burger raw material or as pre-made patties/bullets.

Spaghetti must be placed in a pot of boiling salted water with a few drops of oil.

Cook for 10-12 minutes. 

Drain and shock with cold water.

Mash together the tomatoes with a little water. Keep them slightly whole to ensure a good texture.

Chop up the garlic cloves.

In a pan, heat up the olive oil.

Saute the garlic cloves until they turn slightly brown.

Add the tomatoes and the juice.

Also add the oregano,salt, chilli flakes and the mixed seasoning now.

If you are going to add sugar, do that as well now. But I lean towards the sweetness of ketchup.

Let the water evaporate and the sauce start to thicken.

When the oil and the sauce start to turn red, add the ketchup.

Keep stirring to prevent burning and the sauce will continue to thicken.

Once the sauce comes together and the tomatoes are cooked through and turned a bright red, take off the heat.

Once cooled, the leftover sauce can be placed in the freezer for future use.

Museum of Little Ladies-4

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

I went into the developing room and got a head start on my latest wedding album and the rest of my day was filled with sittings. I did not even get a moment to breathe, the holiday seasons were always the busiest. My window setting was already done. It was a Christmas tree with ornaments made from my photographs of Britta, a blonde 6 year old. The window was definitely one of my better ideas looking at the amount of business it was driving.

Two days later,walking through the grocery store, I stopped in my tracks in shock. My brain had just clicked into place and the pieces had fallen together.The milk carton with the missing girl's photo was the last connection I needed to make. It was Britta. This had happened every other time is what I had figured out. My window displays and the kidnappings were too close to each other for comfort. They could not possibly be a coincidence. But how and why were the questions I still hadn't solved for.

These thoughts kept buzzing about my mind as I entered the studio that day. I waved away Nadia's coffee offer, did not acknowledge Thomas and left them to deal with some dark haired customer who had just entered. I wanted to go to Jim with my theory, but what would I tell him, there is a connection between my studio and the kidnappings, but it has nothing to do with me? I would be implicating Nadia and Thomas as well without solid evidence or reason. This was of course assuming that he believed me and did not laugh me to the end of Pade County.

Museum of Little Ladies-3

Read Part 1 Here 

Read Part 2 Here 

Thomas walked into the room and flung himself into the chair in front of me. He opened up his portfolio to display pages and pages of black and white prints. I knew then I had found my to be partner-in-crime. His photography slide aside, even his overall attitude matched mine, talk about building the brand image. It would also ensure he would not jump onto some other employer too soon after I hired him. I offered him the job on the spot and he did not even negotiate on the monetary details.

A month later, the windchimes rattled away merrily as I walked into my studio. The chill in the air was rising and all around was snow covered and magical. A somber reminder however persisted on the posts covered with holly and other Christmas cheer. Now covered in plastic wrap, two photographs fluttered in the wind, both of brown haired angels I had photographed. This time, the girl had gone missing from the swing set in the park. As I had walked past them today, something had begun to disturb my mind. Like there was  a connection I was missing. I tried to shake myself of the feeling.

Of late, with Thomas in the studio, I had started wedding photography too. Jim had run into me at his partner's daughter's wedding. If I wasn't very sure of him being completely invested in the investigation and therefore haranguing me, I would have suspected him of chatting me up. He had repeatedly asked me hundreds of convoluted questions until I accused him of impeding my work and he accused me back of impeding his investigation and David, his partner had to break us up. But he had definitely planted a seed of doubt in my head. Maybe I did know something, something which connected these children. Giggles broke into my reverie, Thomas and Nadia got on like a house on fire. The only time when I had ever seen Thomas smile was when he was deep in conversation with Nadia and even then unconsciously.

Museum of Little Ladies- Part 2

Read Part 1 Here

I walked into the cool confines of my dark room, I bent my head over the latest prints I had to work on.  It was time to work on my window display for the week. I liked to use this time, before Nadia, my secretary came in to get my thoughts together. I was sure that it was only my window ideas which kept me from going bankrupt. This week's collection of vintage frames with my latest portraits of Cecilia could not fail to be to hit with the local audience.

The wind-chimes rang out as the door opened and I stepped out to find Nadia unwrapping herself like a giant Christmas present. The cold weather in Gorgon was getting to her Californian roots and freezing her up like an ice cube. Sometimes, I suspected that the only reason that she came to work with me was thanks to her outsider origins. She sympathized with me and it was wonderful that she could also do the books and my appointment planning and even wield my back up camera when required. She was the closest to a friend I had in this town where I had grown up and lived for 15 years of my life.

"Clara! Good morning! Sorry, I overslept, this weather- I can never get used to. Have you been holing up in your dark room once again? Today is our interview for the assistant photographer job. Do you have all your questions ready?" She fired off one question after the other like a quick loading cannon. "Yes, I am ready. I am going into the kitchen for some coffee. Can you send him into the back room when he arrives? Did you say 10?" As she nodded her assent stuffing a croissant into her mouth, I walked into the kitchen to brew my special coffee.

The windchimes chimed again, as I moved into the backroom. A gust of cold wind hit my face as the door swung open and then it looked like some ancient God of Ice and Snow had walked in.

Museum of Little Ladies- Part 1

I walked along Walnut St. and my eyes were caught on the rising spiral of handbills. Some volunteer must have left them on the street corner and they had been set into flight by a sudden gust of wind. The same face stared back at me from the innumerable posters plastered on the walls of houses and lampposts lining the street.
She was a brunette, just like the rest of them. Similar black shiny eyes with that childish innocence beaming out of them. The photo was one I recognized. It was from my portrait sitting. I had taken it myself, her mother brought her in the day after her 8th birthday. Dressed in egg shell white, she looked like an angel in the pictures.
'A pity' exclaimed the sheriff's aide, Jim. He had walked up behind me while I stood staring at the poster. ' The mother let her in the yard alone for 15 min and this happens. We don't have a single clue. I don't know what to tell her parents anymore. There is no hope anymore. She's been gone for over a month now.'
I nodded gently, not knowing how to react to his confidences. It was rare that our paths crossed. I mostly kept to myself and my studio. As I took a few steps forward, he spoke again, 'Clara, do you know anything at all about these kidnappings? So many of these children and their parents have been in and out of your studio. Do you have any clues that could help me get to the bottom of this? Is there anything you would like to tell me?'
I spun around, outraged. In a steady but firm voice, ' Jim, do you really think I have something to do with all of this?' Figures, ever since I moved back and started my studio, everyone seems to be treating me like I was a little crazy.  Turning a deaf ear to his stuttered entreaties, I stalked off purposefully. I had become the resident witch of Pade County and I wasn't enjoying that at all. My eccentricities were all forgiven when the time came for their children's portraits. So in the interest of my business, I forgave them too.