Macaroni with Cheese and Tomoatoes

I had prepared this dish 5-6 times and the youngsters liked it very much. This recipe is from an old paper cutting of Hindu newspaper dated September '07! I don't know why I did not try all these times! It is very easy to make. I used 'True' brand wheat macaroni and the taste was very good. I took the photograph before adding the cheese.!

Macaroni & Cheese (sans Cheese here!)

Now,the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. 250 gms. Macaroni

2. 2 tbsp. Butter

3. 2 Medium sized onions, finely sliced

4. 2 Capsicums, finely sliced

5. 2 Tomatoes, finely sliced

6. 3 tbsp. Tomato Ketchup

7. 4-5 tbsp. Grated cheese (add more cheese to taste better!)

8. 2 tsp. chilli Flakes (warm 6-7 red chillies and grind it coarsely in the mixie)

9. 3 cups White sauce

10. 1 tsp. Oregano

11. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Method:

Boil 5-6 cups of water in a vessel. Add half tsp. of salt and a tsp. of any cooking oil. Add the macaroni and boil for 5 mts. The macaroni should not become very soft. Strain and keep aside.

Heat a tbsp. of butter in a frying pan and add onions. Fry for 2 mts. Add capsicums and fry for 2 mts. Switch off the fire.

Now prepare the white sauce in another vessel and keep it. If you prepare it very early, it becomes very thick and sticky.

Now, switch on the fire and add macaroni, tomato ketchup and white sauce to the onion and capsicums' pan. Add the tomatoes, chilli flakes, oregano, a tsp. of salt and a tsp. of pepper. (Taste it and see if the salt is enough!). Stir well. Cook on a low flame for 2 mts. Pour the mixture in a greased baking dish. Cover with grated cheese.

Bake it in a hot oven until the cheese turns into light brown. 180 degree C for the first 10 mts. and then 150 degree for another 10-15 mts.

Serve hot.

WHITE SAUCE:

Ingredients:

1. 2 tbsp. butter

2. 3 tbsp. Maida (Plain flour)

3. 3 cups milk

4. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Method:

Melt the butter in a flat pan. add the plain flour and keep stirring on a low flame, without browning it.

Add the milk gradually, stirring continuously, until the sauce thickens. There should be no lumps. Add half tsp. of salt and half tsp. of pepper. The sauce can be made thin by adding more milk.

Preparation time for this recipe is very less. Any new cook can try this!

Comments are welcome!

Tomato sauce for Pasta

I am doing this sauce for Pasta, for the past one year. Everyone seems to like the taste. I took recipes from different websites and created a sauce of my own! Now, to the recipe:


Ingredients:

1. 2 Kg. Ripe Tomatoes

2. 2 nos. Medium sized onions, chopped finely

3. 4-5 flakes garlic, chopped finely

4. 1/2 bunch of spring onion (both bulbs and greens can be used), chopped finely

5. 1 Green Capsicum, chopped finely

6. 2 Carrots, chopped finely

7. 1/2 to 3/4 cup of Olive oil

8. 1 tbs. Oregano leaves

9. 1 tsp. Rosemary leaves

10. 2 Dried Bay leaves

11. 1 Stalk Celery, chopped finely

12. 1/2 Cup Basil leaves, chopped

13. 2 tbsp. Unsalted butter

14. 2 tbsp. Sea salt or according to taste

15. 1 - 2 tbsp. Freshly ground pepper

16. 1/2 tsp. Sugar

Method:

Boil water in a big vessel and immerse tomatoes, a few at a time and cover the vessel for 1-2 minutes. You can see a crack 0n the skin of the tomatoes. Keep cold water in another big vessel and take the hot tomatoes and drop them into it, one by one. You can use a ladle with holes for this purpose. When the tomatoes are a bit cold, remove the skin and keep them in a big plate/thaali. The second method is to keep the tomatoes in a glass bowl in the microwave 'high' for 3-4 mts. and then peel the skin. I follow the first method!

Heat the olive oil (fumes should not come) in a big non-stick vessel and add onion and garlic. Fry until soft and transparent, for 3-4 mts.

Add all the chopped vegetables and fry for 5 mts.

Add celery and basil leaves and fry for 2 mts. Add half quantity of the salt and pepper powder.

Now, put the tomatoes in a mixie, 2-3 at a time and grind just for half a minute, after removing the skin. It should not become watery. While removing the skin, take off the part of the tomato where the stem is connected because it will be a bit hard, with a sharp knife (hope, I am communicating what I think, correctly!). Pour them in to the vessel.

Leave it to boil for half an hour and then add the herbs, salt, pepper, bay leaves and butter. Butter is to remove the tangy acidic taste of the tomato. Taste and add more salt if you think so.

Boil for half an hour more or till the sauce thickens, in medium flame. The sauce should not be very watery or very thick.

When it cools down, you can store in an air-tight container in the fridge. The olive oil acts as a preservative and the sauce stays fresh for a week or two. You can take out the bay leaves, before storing.

This sauce has got vegetables also and so my son just boils pasta, adds this sauce to it and EAT!

Try this recipe and I would be happy to know if you liked it.

Ribbon Pakkoda/Oattu pakkoda - South Indian/Tamil Savoury - I

Ribbon Pakkoda (ரிப்பன் பக்கோடா)/Oattu pakkoda (ஓட்டுப் பக்கோடா):





This is a savoury from Tamilnadu, which is very tasty and easy to prepare:

Ingredients:

1. 4 cups Bengal gram flour,
2. 2 cups Rice Flour,
3. 1/2 cup Butter or ghee,
4. 3 tsp. Salt (diluted in 2 tbsp. of water),
5. 1/2 tsp. Asafoetida/hing powder or solid hing diluted in some water.
6. 3 tsp. Chilli Powder,
7. 2/3 cups Oil for frying,
8. Enough water.

Dough:

Mix the flours with butter, nicely, with your fingertips. Add hing, chilli powder, salt water and mix again. (Retain some salt water. Taste the first batch of the snack and you can add some more, if salt is less). Then add some more water and mix till the dough is like the chapaathi dough. It should not be very stiff or soggy.

Method:

Make a ball out of the dough first and then stretch it a bit, so that it fits the Cookie Press - 'murukku achchu' (M.A.)(முறுக்கு அச்சு) and close the lid.

Pour oil in a kadai/pan and heat it. It should be very hot first. Then slow down the fire and press the dough in the M.A. into the hot oil. Press enough dough, till it covers the oil in the pan. One M.A. dough can be pressed approx. twice. If you press more, it will not get cooked properly. Now keep the fire in 'medium'. When the ribbon is half cooked, turn it once. On the whole, it will take approx. 2-3 mts. for one ribbon to get cooked. When the bubbles die down, and the ribbon is golden brown, take it out and keep it in a drainer/paper napkin for a minute.

Once you start preparing this snack, don't stop, till the dough is finished. If the dough soaks for a long time, the snack will be very oily. Remember to keep the fire 'sightly high' while cooking.

Place some paper napkin or some brown paper at the bottom of an airtight container and store. Nice crispy savoury is ready.

You can reduce the rice flour to 1 and a 1/2 cup too. This will be a bit softer for the teeth!

While pressing the dough into the oil, hold the stem of the M.A. in your left hand and press with the right hand. This machine is very easy to handle.

If you want to prepare more, don't add extra flour to this measure. Prepare new dough. The dough should not soak for a long time.



I prepare this ribbon pakkoda in different ratios and the taste also varies  accordingly:

Variation 1:
 
1. 4 cups Rice flour,
2. 1 and 1/2 cup fried gram flour.
You can grind both the rice and gram together in the outside machine or buy the flours and use them. 

Variation 2:

1. 4 cups Rice flour,
2. 1 cup Bengal Gram flour,
3. 1/4 cup Urad Dhal flour. (the urad dhal should be dry roasted and ground in the mixie and sieved).

Everything else is the same as described in the beginning of the post.  You can differentiate the taste in all the three methods!



Renu, this recipe is for you! Enjoy and give me the feed back!


I updated it today (22.4.13), so that it would be easier to follow! The recipe is the same!

Baby corn subzi with coconut milk.

Our family loves this subzi very much. I make this subzi on festival days/pooja days, when we are not supposed to use onion/garlic. It is very tasty and we can have it with chapaathis, pooris, pongal, idly or dosa. Now, the recipe:

Ingredients:

Serves 3-4 people.
1. 1 1/2 cups, Baby corns, cut into 2" long sliced pieces or round shaped pieces. Cook it slightly in microwave, if it is a bit hard and keep aside.
2. 200g. Tomatoes, chopped
3. 1 Medium sized coconut, grated. Grind it in a mixer with a cup of water, strain and keep aside the milk. This milk will be thick. Grind the squeezed coconut once or twice more, with 3-3 1/2 cups of water. Strain and keep this milk also, separately.
4. 1 tsp. Coconut/refined oil
5. 2 tsp. Coriander(dhania)
6. 2-3 Red Chillies
7. 1 1/2 tsp. Pepper
8. 2 tsp. Bengal gram
9. Curry leaves.

Fry no.5-9 items in oil and grind into a paste, with 1/2 cup of water. While frying, pepper should be added in the end.

10. 1 1/2 tsp. salt or as per your taste.

Method:

Cook chopped tomatoes and the ground masala paste for 5 mts. Add the thin coconut milk, which was taken while grinding second and third time. Let it come to a boil. Add the corn pieces now. Add salt. When the corn becomes soft, add the thick milk. Let it boil for 2 mts. If you boil for more then 2-3 mts. the coconut creamy tasty will not be there.

The subzi is ready to serve!

P.S.: You can use potatoes instead of baby corn too!

Walnut toffee!

I tried this recipe once and it came out well. Here, in India, during the Navrathri pooja season, we get boxes of nuts as gifts. We can collect the walnuts from them and try this!!!

Ingredients:

• 10 whole walnuts - without shells
• 100 gms sugar
• 1 tsp. butter

Method:

Take the sugar in a small kadai and fry without water in a slow fire. Keep on stirring and the sugar will start melting slowly and turn brown in colour. Sugar caramel is ready now. Add the butter and stir for a few seconds. I like to add a pinch of salt also - salt enhances the taste of sweets! Some people do not like to add salt. Both ways are good. Switch off the fire.

Take the walnuts and dip in the caramel, one by one, with the help of a tooth pick. We should finish doing this when the caramel is hot. Line up in a greased plate. Let it cool down.

We can break the walnut into two halves and make two toffees in one nut too! Walnut has got a slight bitter taste. When it is coated with caramel, it tastes yummy!

We can try this with ghee roasted cashew nuts too! Children will love these toffees, I guarantee!!!