a bottle of passata (you can view the photo of the actual product over at The Little Teochew's post)
1 small yellow/ white onion, minced
2 cloves garlic minced
250g minced beef
10 white button mushrooms, sliced
salt to taste
basil flakes to taste - I added a generous portion
Instructions
Steam the pumpkin till fork tender, press the pumpkin through a sieve (truly reminds me of the days I pureed food for Alicia!). Set aside.
Heat wok and add some oil.
Fry the onion and garlic till fragrant and the onions have softened.
Add the minced beef and some water if necessary to make sure that the minced beef does not become lumpy.
Add the mushrooms. Saute for awhile.
After the beef is browned, remove all the ingredients from the wok.
Add passata and the pureed pumpkin to the wok. Let it simmer for about a minute.
Return the ingredients that you fried earlier back into the wok and mix well.
Let the sauce simmer for about 10-20min (to ensure that the mushrooms are cooked and have released their sweetness into the sauce) and meanwhile you can add the salt and basil to taste. :)
Pour sauce over cooked pasta or put the cooked pasta into the wok and mix well before dishing onto the plate. (I chose to pour the sauce over the pasta as I wanted to save the remaining sauce to freeze in baby cubes for Alicia)
Top with grated cheese of your choice (optional).
Notes
Passata can be easily obtained from NTUC or Giant.
You can substitute beef with chicken.
Omit the basil if you do not like it or you can add other herbs of your choice. I have a bottle of basil in my kitchen so I just used it... :)
Recipe by at http://simplymommie.com/2011/04/homemade-pasta-sauce-with-pumpkin-puree.html