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Pasta With Somali Meat Sauce

Actually as you can tell I really love anything pasta and rice related but since I had became diabetic that I had to very much be ever mindful about how many carbs I am injesting. This is a simple Somali dish. I told you Mr. Riaz really was drooling when he smelled the delicious aroma of our then Somali neighbor’s cooking. So I started to look up and not ask my then neighbor for her reciepe so I can learn how to make this food and keep Mr. Riaz happy.

Take a large stock pot full of water and add 1 gallon or 4 liters of water in it. Add 1 capful of olive oil and 1 pinch of pink salt after it comes to a rolling boil. This would take a while and it would help greatly when you have the lid on the pot and the heat is on high. After the water is boiling then add 1 box of pasta to this boiling water. It can be any type except lasana noodles those do not count and I love bonza which comes in a red box. It is made from chickpeas and has half the carbs of regular pasta and gluten free too acording to the box. Cook this for 15 minutes with the pot covered. Stir on occation and then drain when finished. Rince under cold water and place the cooked pasta and place the lid over the pot and set it aside. Be sure to turn the heat off at the end of cooking time before you drain it.

For the sauce you will need to make Xawaash so you can have this on hand and make this spice mix just when you are going to make this dish and remember freshness is the best. On high heat add 1/4 cup of olive oil, onion or shallot which gets caramelized. Mince 4 cloves of garlic, add the xawaash that you made then grind 1 pinch of peppercorns and add this to the oily onion mixture, 1 pinch of red chili powder gets added also and stir. Add 1 pinch of turbidano sugar, 1 bullion cube, 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma, 1 bell pepper of any color 1 cup of Auguson Farms dried imitation beef or imitation chicken crumbles which can be bought from either Walmart or Amazon in a can that has to be drained after you soak it for 15 minutes before using. or 1 bag of the frozen crumbles by Morningstar Farms, Boka or Beyond meat for vegans and vegetarians. For us ominivoures or carnivoures it is 1lb or 1 kg of either ground lamb, beef, goat, chicken, veal, or turkey. Vegans and vegetarians can also use vegan bullion cubes too. Open 1 can of tomato paste and scoop it out and put it in the pot to make a finished version of this sauce and add 4 canfuls of water to make sure their is no more tomato paste residue left in the can at all. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the sauce becomes thick.

Put the finished sauce all over the pasta and give it a good mix by folding the pasta in to the sauce and place the lid back on the pot a final time for 10 minutes before eating.

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