Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Macaroni Hotpot



This name itself is so cute, isn't it? One just feels like immediately digging in into this hot and comforting sounding food. Well this certainly does live up to its name. It is hot, cheesy and very comforting. That too with the weather in Chennai the way it is right now, all wet and rainy and shockingly enough COLD ( can you believe it?), one feels like eating foods that make one's insides all warm and (sorry to use the word again) comforted.

I had eaten this many many years ago at a friend's place. But never really thought of asking her how to make it or the recipe. But I simply remembered it as a delicious dish, which my kids also enjoyed.

The other day while going through a Tarla Dalal cookbook I chanced upon this recipe. It immediately rang a bell. (imagine that you are reading a comic book and when the character gets a brilliant idea, this bulb lights up above the characters head?? It was exactly like that !!!) I remembered instantly that this was what I had tasted at R's place.
Quickly took out all the ingredients and assembled it and then popped it in the oven.
Out came this delicious dish...
Any tweaking of the recipe will involve 1) cutting the vegetables into small bits rather than the rounds she has suggested and 2) maybe at some point add more tomatoes/tomato paste and substituting the baked beans with corn. Will give an update when I make it with corn.
Now for the recipe....
Ingredients:
100 grams shell or elbow macaroni
1 can Baked beans
3 capsicums, diced into 1 inch bits
3 onions, chopped into 1 inch bits
4 cloves, garlic minced
4 Tomatoes, skinned and chopped finely
5 tablespoons tomato puree
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes
salt to taste
100 grams cooking cheese, grated
Method:
Cook the macaroni in a large pot of water till 'al dente'( 80 % done) and drain. It cooks further during the baking process and we dont want it all breaking it up. It should hold its shape even after the baking process.
Heat the butter in a pan and add the onions and the minced garlic.
When it gets translucent, add the capsicum and saute for a couple of minutes.
Add the tomatoes and cook till mushy.
Add the baked beans, tomato puree, red chilli flakes, macaroni and salt.
Put into a baking dish and generously sprinkle grated cooking cheese over and bake at 200 deg C for about 20 mins till the top is bubbling.
Serve hot. You can serve some garlic bread with it, if desired.

16 comments:

Suganya said...

This is wicked good, Kamini.

Unknown said...

A must try for me... it looks delicious!!

Padmaja said...

looks absolutely delicious kamini!!!!
noel would be very pleased to have that!!!

FH said...

Looks so comforting! Yummy dish my kids would love it!:))

Anonymous said...

I believe you - Chennai is actually "cold" - :D

that brings me to another question - why couldn't you have been somewhere closer?

TBC said...

Looks very...ummm... comforting;-)

Laavanya said...

Kamini, this looks extremely delicious... I do like the name too. My husband doesn't like mac'n cheese but this looks like something he might warm upto.

Namratha said...

The bulb above your head was well worth it..tee hee...this looks gorgeous..would love to dig in right away! :)

Padma said...

This looks so yummy!

bee said...

so r you sending this for CLICK? the theme is 'noodles' and pasta qualifies as 'noodles'. this really looks scrumptious.

Rajitha said...

yummers!! so good....

Kamini said...

Done Bee, this time, there will be an entry from me for CLICK. Only not this one. A nicer one with a little more creativity. This one was clicked just before my husband dug in. He was starving and I had to quickly grab this from under his nose and take the pics.

Raks said...

I love cheese so i love this macaroni hot pot a lot!!!

Latha Narasimhan said...

Looks yummy! This is a sure try!:) your malpuas are tempting too!:))

Shyamolima Mutsuddi said...

Hello food lovers,

Plz plz try this recipeee..I tried it..andd it is yummmmmmyyyyyyyy.. Really all my family mambers from kids to the most elderly enjoyyed it....Keeps nagging me to make this recipee in every occasion.

Shyamolima Mutsuddi
Kolkata

Monkess said...

This bought back memories of when I was a little girl and my mother would make pasta Indian style with capsicums and tomatoes-had to try it!
Made it last night..so reminiscent of 1960's (I wasnt born then though:) India...cool...the DH loved it!