Post #2: Homemade spaghetti

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll. So I went on a bit of a cooking spree recently and I decided to make homemade spaghetti again. I learned how to make homemade sauce from A but of course, like always, I then put my own spin on it.

You'll need:

olive oil
1 4oz can tomato paste
salt
chopped onion
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped or mashed
2 dried red chilis (can use more, wasn't very spicy) or turkish red pepper paste, love 'em both
small can black olives
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp homemade spice mix (this one had 1 clove, bit of cinnamon, cumin, a dried lemon, coriander seeds)
1 tbsp oregano, more or less to taste
package turkey meatballs or can use whatever meat ya'll prefer
parmesan cheese for yummy goodness at the end ;-)

Get your olive oil nice and shimmery-hot, medium heat.

Add the tomato paste but be careful! Mine had a little sizzle to it. :-)

About a tbsp of salt, don't over salt, you can always add later

Poppin' in 2 dried red chilis; shoulda put one more but was nice masha'Allah

In go da onions!

Aww, can't forget the garlic! Yummmm!

Let it cook, stirring often, for at least 15 minutes. Low heat.

Added the chopped black olives. Everyone here are olive snobs but I can use these in sauces. :-)

See how the oil is separating? Yeah, that's what you want. Cook til it gets a nice dark color and don't forget to stir!

I added chopped turkey meatballs. You can leave 'em whole but I prefer them chopped up.

Tada! I used about 12 oz of pasta, probably coulda just done with 8 oz but I don't mind a drier pasta. I don't like gobs of sauce on mine. :-) Oh and cue the parmesan please!

Hmmm so that's that. I like to use a smaller noodle, I know scientifically a thick sauce should have a tube pasta or one with a corkscrew shape but I like thin noodles like vermicelli (above) or cappelini (angel hair). And al-dente my behind. Sorry I kinda like my pasta soft, I always go that last minute of cooking. :-)