Tomato Vegetable Pasta Sauce For Ravioli / Spaghetti

I get many requests to post kid friendly recipes. Ishaan starting eating what we eat from a very young age. There are many things that he does not want to touch – like most of the vegetables. But I always serve him everything that I have prepared. I give him very small quantities, sometimes I ask him to serve food by his own. He tries a little bit some days and other days he does not want to do anything with the vegetables. I am hoping, he will soon start trying new things. He is more open to pastas though. So I experiment a lot with different pastas and pasta sauces.

I have always loved Ravioli. So I introduced it to Ishaan and he loved it too. I usually buy these from the frozen section of grocery stores. I have tried raviolis with different fillings – like cheese, winter squash etc. I am not sure how he will like the spinach filling, yet to try that. I normally buy Ravioletti – which are miniature versions of Raviolis. I make the sauce at home by adding lot of veggies. When he was much younger, he would pick up the green bits from the sauce and throw them down. Now he does not mind them anymore. I use the same sauce for spaghetti also. He loves to serve himself and add the parmesan cheese on top :). The measurements are approximates only. Change them according to your choice. Sometimes I make this sauce in big batch and freeze some to use later.

Ingredients:
2-3 big tomatoes or 1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup zucchini grated
1/2 cup green bell pepper (capsicum) cut into small pieces
1/2 tea spn dried basil or 6-7 fresh leaves
1/4 tea spn black pepper
1/2 tea spn chopped garlic
Olive oil/butter
Spaghetti/Ravioli
Oil
Parmesan cheese

Method:

Blanch the tomatoes – bring a pot of water to boil, add the tomatoes. Remove the skin and blend to a smooth paste. You can also use canned tomato paste.
Heat oil/butter and add all chopped and grated vegetables, garlic. Cook till they become soft.

Now add the tomato paste, basil, pepper, salt. Let it cook covered for 3-4 mins.

Cook Ravioli or Spaghetti in salted water according to package instructions. Add them to the sauce.
Serve hot topped with Parmesan cheese. I also add some pieces of butter for the kid.

Preparation time : 20mins