!Xomatoes and Green Xalepeno Powder

Nupur's OneHotStove is unquestionably one of my favorite food blogs.....
I love her dedication to preserving traditional recipes, as well as her enthusiasm in exploring and adapting elements of other cuisines. There are several times when I've been thinking about trying out a certain ingredient or technique (chard, vietnamese rice paper rolls) and she miraculously reads my mind and posts a recipe to reduce the unknowns and the apprehensions from my effort :)

I'd decided to do atleast one post in the whole series for her A-Z of Indian Vegetables series - and since the letter X is about the unusual...what better place for someone like me to step in with my solitary post!

If you were a child in India in the 80s and the 90s, you probably remember a game called 'Name-Place-Animal-Thing' (I'm serious...that's what it was called!!)
I remember playing endless rounds of this game with cousins and friends over summer vacations. Someone (X) basically repeats the alphabet in their mind over and over again, until someone else(Y, Z, A, B, C...whoever) says 'stop'...and everyone has to think of a name, place, animal and thing starting with the letter that X stopped at, and write them down in four neat columns on a sheet of paper. Then everyone compares what they wrote, and cancels out the common ones...you get points for whatever doesn't get canceled out.
Obviously X was not a favorite letter in this game...since the only words I knew were Xylophone and Xerox !! I remember long arguments about whether Xerox was a 'name' or a 'thing' (a photocopy was referred to as a 'xerox' colloquially) If I had known of vegetables whose names started with X, I'd have won those games as a kid....I didn't even know about Xacuti, until a few years ago, or I'd have used that for 'thing' ... :)

What I did figure out in later life, was that X is actually quite versatile, and takes on different sounds in different languages/cultures. That, my friends, is the loophole of choice for this entry to be eligible...
!X represents the lateral alveolar click in african languages such as Xhosa and Zulu...and so I'm taking the liberty of spelling them !Xomatoes instead of tomatoes....and in spanish they use the 'Ha' sound for both X and J anyway...so I'm taking the liberty of spelling them Xalepenos instead of Jalepenos.....I know, I know I'm cheating, but Nupur said we could...didn't she?

In any case, I'd never cooked with Xalepeno powder (Ok OK!! Jalepeno powder!!) before, having always used our beloved Laal mirchi, so it was all mysterious and X-y (pronounce exxy) to me.






Tomato-Jalepeno Sauce / !Xomato Xalapeno Xauce (I just realised X can take the 's' sound too!)

I hate store bought marinara sauce...I actually am not a fan of pasta with sauce at all...no offense meant to the comfort food of millions. I was inspired to make pasta sauce with a desi kick after checking out Indira's take on it. So here goes...

What I used:
Canned Diced Tomatoes - one 28 oz or two 14 oz cans (use regular or petite diced as desired)
Sweet Onion - 1 medium or large, finely diced
Green bell pepper- 1 medium or large, finely diced

Garlic- about 6 cloves finely minced or 1 to 1.5 tablespoons garlic powder (i didn't have fresh)
Sweet Basil - 1/3 cup fresh or 2 tbs dried
Ajwain (Bishop's weed or Carrom seed) - 1/2 tsp
Green Jalepeno powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1tsp
Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Sugar - 1 tsp (optional)
Ginger powder or crushed/minced ginger- 1/2 tsp (optional)
White Wine - 1/2 cup or more (I used chardonnay+pinot grigio)
EVOO - extra virgin olive oil - 2 tbsp

What I did:

In a copper bottom or any other even-heating heavy bottom pan, pour in the olive oil like you would for tadka and add the garlic, ajwain, ginger (if using) and half the basil. As the spices start to release their flavour add the sweet onion, saute for a minute and add the green bell pepper. Saute until they turn translucent but are still crunchy. Add in the tomatoes and salt. Mix well, cover and simmer for 15 mins, stirring intermittently and adding water (1/4 cup at a time) if the mixture seems to be drying out . Uncover, add half the jalepeno powder, black pepper, sugar and half the white wine ( I did not measure the wine...just splashed from the bottle). Simmer for 10 more minutes making sure that the tomatoes break down and everything comes together as a cohesive chunky sauce. Add the remaining wine, jalepeno, basil and more sugar/salt/pepper/water if desired. Simmer uncovered for 2 more minutes and turn off heat.

I served this with about Bow tie pasta (as much as you'd get by cooking 1/2 pound dry pasta). Taking a tip from Trupti, I cook my pasta in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle rather than standing around the saucepan forever. I saved about 1/4 cup pasta cooking water and added the sauce in with it to the al-dente pasta and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. Served garnished with fresh basil and/or fresh jalepeno.

The verdict: I love the flavour of green jalepeno powder!! It is more sweetly subtle, mildly smoky and not the all-out fire of red chilly powder. On first bite, the tongue thinks of it as black pepper, but once it goes down the throat, there is a sweetness, heat and smokiness that is quite unique. And this pasta sauce, I will make again and again!!

I'm sorry I have no pictures since my camera is out of commission.