Mummy's Spaghetti Sauce

Yup, I sneaked in some carbs during the weekend. Breaking my vow to avoid carbs until I lose at least another 8-10lbs. tsk...tsk..tsk...

All my life until later in adulthood, I had never tasted Italian spaghetti sauce. The only spaghetti sauce I had ever known and love is my Mum's version. So much so that when I had Spaghetti Bolognese at a restaurant, I thought it tasted awful. To make it worse, I cannot stand the smell of Parmesan cheese. To me it smells like ..... shall I say it? Please don't be offended. It smells like baby's vomit. Sorry.

I have had pasta a few times after that and I still think my Mum's spaghetti sauce is still THE best! My Mum's spaghetti sauce uses tomato ketchup and oyster sauce. I know some of you are toot tooting and tsk tsking away but I don't care. I don't like tomato puree or canned tomato sauce. It does not suit my taste. 

Here I am using minced pork because my partner does not eat beef. I prefer beef but we have to listen to our customers, don't we?

Another thing my Mum does is to saute some onions with olive oil until soft and wilted. Then add in the cooked spaghetti and toss it with the onions. It gives the pasta a very nice taste and aroma. Besides it prevents the pasta from sticking together and you can prepare the pasta ahead of time.

Toss spaghetti with the fried onions.

I was waiting for my partner's reaction to the pasta (I tossed it about 5 minutes before he got home). When I got an audible "Mmmmmmm..." with a couple of appreciative nods of the head, I knew I had hit a home run. hee...hee... Credit goes to my Mum of course!

Mummy's Spaghetti Sauce
Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :
- 380g minced pork
- 200 fresh ripe tomatoes, diced (you can remove the skin if you want, I didn't bother)
- 100g green peppers, finely diced
- 200g canned button mushrooms, sliced
- 150g big onions, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 cup tomato ketchup or more to taste
- 2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce
- water, adjust according to how much sauce you want
- lots of black pepper to taste

- to thicken the sauce, mix one teaspoon tapioca flour with 2 tablespoons water

Method :
1. In a skillet, heat up some oil and brown the minced pork in two batches. Remove and set aside.
2. In a saucepan or pot, heat oil and saute onions until translucent.
3. Add garlic and continue to saute until fragrant.
4. Add the minced pork, tomatoes, green peppers, tomato ketchup, oyster sauce and water.
5. Bring to a boil and simmer until tomatoes are tender and mushy.
6. Add mushrooms and simmer for about 5 minutes.
7. Taste and adjust seasoning. I like to load up on black pepper at this point.
8. Bring to a boil and add tapioca flour mixture to thicken the sauce.