Several times, I have been through the disheartening experience of putting in effort and precious ingredients into making a white sauce, and ultimately having to throw a non-salvageable, lumpy amalgamation in the bin.
The main problem is the all purpose flour that easily clumps when the milk is poured in. And if you delude yourself into thinking you can salvage this mixture, you take a blender/hand-mixer out to make it smooth. And then have hot milk and flour splatter all over you. And then you ingest an unappetising sauce with remnants of uncooked flour in it. Yes, it is all highly traumatising.
However, not to fear, because referring-to-herself-in-the-third-person-shamelessly Shravani is here with easy, practical tips and tricks to ensure that the sauce is smooth without the use of a blender/hand mixer, and that the flour is thoroughly cooked out throughout the sauce. And, but of course, that the sauce is delicious. These tips work for me every single time, and I am no more apprehensive of making white sauce pasta for my loved ones, as I once used to be!
Continue reading recipe to transform your life with this sauce. And yes, I am already aware that I need to put in effort in taking good food pictures, thank you very much.
Ingredients (yields enough sauce for a pasta meal for 4 people): 1 heaping tbsp. all purpose flour 2 cups whole milk, warmed Water, as required Salt Pepper Garlic powder (optional, but we love our garlic in the Sakpal household) Patience, lots of it Meticulousness Method: In a dry pan (emphasis on dry–there should be no speck of water), put the all purpose flour, and then turn the heat on low. Using a spatula, constantly stir the flour until it becomes light brown and toasty. Please ensure that it is only the lightest of brown and that you are not burning the flour. This step is to cook the flour out before hitting it with liquid. In a bowl, take the warm milk, and slowly and steadily, sift in the flour with one hand while constantly stirring the milk with a fork/whisk. The slower the adding of flour, the smoother the sauce. In a pan, add the milk-flour amalgamation on a low to medium heat, constantly stir with spatula, and wait for the sauce to thicken. Add in water one tablespoon at a time as needed in case the sauce gets exceedingly thick. Add in salt, pepper and garlic powder according to taste. (Note: If you use minced garlic instead, then you’ll have to first saute the garlic in some oil in another pan, and then add it to the sauce to ensure that its true, delicious flavours come out, otherwise the sauce will be bitter and unpleasant because of the addition of raw garlic.)
P.S. Go to town by pouring this sauce over roasted chicken and veggies, or adding in sauteed chicken and veggies in the sauce for an ultimately delicious pasta that your mother will love even more because it’s healthy now.
