Curried Mac and Cheese...

Mac and Cheese...gives me the heebie jeebies...the tremendous amount of cheese and butter and cream.....
Perish the thought of the number of kilometers needed to walk off just one bite...even a whiff is enough to increase the body weight by at least a pound....for us who are constantly watching and weighing calories.....
But this one -my Curried Mac and Cheese...is surprisingly LOW in calories and super high in flavour...I don't mean to brag about my cooking abilities but just in case you do try this out ...you'll know what I mean...YUM!

Mac and Cheese...always means ...Kraft...and an explosion of taste...

but with my curried Mac ans Cheese...the burst of flavour and the satisfaction of the cheesy craving ...ALL THERE!

you bet its all there!
and its FAST ! to top it all.....
lemme take you on a guided tour...
Lets MAC!
for the
Curried Mac and Cheese...
you need 


1 cup macaroni...lets stay true to the name!
1 1/2 cups milk the skim"mier" the better -by cup I mean the American cup which holds approx 220-250 mils
4 tspns flour
1 tsp each Olive oil and butter
2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese
1 small onion diced
1 small capsicum diced
a few cloves of garlic diced
1 green chilli diced
1/2 de seeded tomato again diced
2 slices of bread converted into breadcrumbs in a mixer
salt,Red chili flakes to taste
2 tsp Pao Bhaji Masala

Get your oven heating to 180C..I decided to use the grill micro combination....works wonders to crisp up stuff...OK "gratinate" stuff...
That's the macaroni

Boiling till "al dente" in salted water...

when you bite it you must feel a resistance....not the Anna Hazare kind....feel bad eating all this while the old man fasts...but...remember the macaroni must not be totally "done".And drain it out into a colander.....let it sit pretty ..waiting for the makeover...

Meanwhile...heat your pan and add the olive oil...I need to mask the flavour of the  olive oil with butter...my son's palette is quite averse to the healthy things...

you can skip the butter totally,but if you do use it....make sure you add it to the pan after the oil...we don't want desi ghee

your veggies should be finely diced....sweet child o'mine is  known to remove as many veggies on his plate to languish on the periphery....yes...yours truly is a wonder with the knife too...thank you...

Now add the veggies turn by turn to the pan....saute the onions and garlic and chili

Now add the capsicum....you can if you want add carrots,celery ,bell pepper....but jharkhand is suffering from a shortage of vegetables...thus we resort o mac and cheese...

Do not add the tomatoes yet...we are not looking for mush... Add the flour to make the roux.....the cooked mix of butter and flour....

and cook till you get a nice coppery colour...gold is too expensive...cant even think about it now...

Into this whisk in the milk...it will be easier if your milk...OK the cow/buffalo's milk is warm....
don't let any lumps form though...

It must come to a gentle simmer and be a nice saucy consistency....what every man dreams of...so we will spice it up...with the pao bhaji masala...you can use curry powder-but that is ambiguous,one might end up with a mac and cheese that tastes suspiciously of sambhar...

whisk it in,check the seasoning and turn off the flame...

you can also grate in nutmeg ...a pinch is good..

Now to dress up the dish for the oven...In your baking dish pop in the macaroni,the tomatoes, 3/4 the bread crumbs and 3/4 the cheese and mix in the "mock"bechamel sauce

Top the dish with the remaining breadcrumbs and cheese

Whats life without a TADKA.....better minus the oil..so sprinkle the dish with some red chili flakes

and if you are in a better mood than what you started with dot some butter...a teensy weensy bit..

Now ready to go...into the oven I used Grill+Micro combination at 70% power for all of 10 minutes,if you use a convection oven at 180C you need at least 20 minutes.....
so here goes...

The breadcrumbs gave it an awesome crispness and the teeny bit of butter and cheese combined were heaven sent.....and the mac was so perfectly baked ...you could do something even more sinful like take dollops of the mac and batter fry them...yum yum...

but this was perfect for a rainy day,a cranky child and a fridge with almost no veggies....except the staples...
the aroma was heady...little romeo the dog came out from under the bed sniffing...tasting the air...almost like a   coven of vampires lived beneath my bed....

And the leftovers were had for breakfast...
the pix with sweet child o"mine are throwing tantrums....just like him refusing to upload...so maybe they need to go and sit in the corner a while..
well 6 hours later sitting in the corner seems to have worked...for the camera...and here is the picture.....dinner for breakfast ...er?or should it be vice-versa?

At 7 in the morning...
Try this for your family....
tell me what they thought of it...


So what are you baking today???????