BAKED MACARONI IN SPINACH CORN GRAVY

Baked Macaroni in Spinach Corn Gravy

I kind of thought up this recipe and I have to say that it tasted totally delicious. 

Serves 6 people

INGREDIENTS

Wheat Macaroni – 2 packets of 200 gm each
Spinach – 3 bunches (chopped)
Corn – 200 gm
Onion – 3 medium (chopped)
Green chilli – 3 (chopped)
Garlic – 6-8 cloves (grated)
Olive Oil – 3 tbsp (vegetable oil can be used alternately)
Corn Flour – 2 tsp
Milk – 400 ml
Cheese – 200 gm 
Black Pepper powder – ½ tsp
Oregano – 1 tsp
Salt to taste 

METHOD

1. Grease two baking trays of size 9” x 7”. 

Macaroni

2. Heat a large pan of water with some salt and 1 tbsp of oil. Add the macaroni to the pan when the water begins to boil. Cook for a few minutes till the macaroni is partly cooked and firm to the touch. Macaroni cooks faster than pasta, so you might need to keep a check on this one. It tends to break if overcooked. Drain the water and run the macaroni under cold tap water so that they don’t stick to each other. 
3. Cook the spinach in boiling water containing a large pinch of salt for 3-4 minutes. Drain the water and run the spinach under cold tap water so that it retains its green colour.
4. Take a saucepan and heat 2 tbsp oil in it. Keep the gas flame on medium before adding chopped green chillies and grated garlic. 
5. Cook for a few seconds before adding chopped onions. Stir fry the onions till golden brown in colour.
6. Add oregano and salt and then the cooked spinach. Mix on low flame.
7. Take a bowl and add corn flour and milk and mix well before adding to spinach mixture.
8. Stir on and off till it cooks for 3-4 minutes on low flame.
9. In the meanwhile, preheat the oven at 250 degrees for ten minutes.
10. Place the corn in one of the baking trays and grill for ten minutes at 200 degrees.
11. While corn is being grilled in the oven, switch off the gas and add pepper powder to the spinach mix.
12. Take a hand mixer and run it through the mixture to give it a grainy texture.
13. Grate cheese over it and mix well. The gravy should be thick but of pouring consistency. If it’s too thick, you can add some more milk to it. 
14. Remove grilled corn from oven and take it out of the baking tray.
15. Make a bed of boiled macaroni on both trays.
16. Add a layer of corn to the macaroni.
17. Now pour the spinach gravy over the corn. 
18. Bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees before serving hot. 

Yummy Baked Macaroni in Spinach Corn Gravy is ready to eat. 

Tips:

1. If you want to keep aside one of the trays and use it 1-2 days later, keep the tray covered in the refrigerator and bake when you are ready to eat it.
2. If baked macaroni is leftover, cover it and keep in fridge. To reheat the next day, add 1-2 tsp of cream, a pinch of pepper powder, a pinch of oregano and a pinch of salt, mix well and bake for ten minutes. This will ensure that the macaroni doesn’t turn too dry. 

COFFEE BUTTER COOKIES

Coffee Butter Cookies

I tasted Coffee Cookies for the first time on my Indigo flight to Chennai. While the texture was awesome, I couldn’t taste coffee in the cookies they served. That’s when I decided that I should make some at home. Luckily for me, my sister Lakshmi made some jam cookies at her place recently. I checked out the recipe from her and added-deleted some ingredients to make super delicious Coffee Butter Cookies. Thank you Lakshmi! 

INGREDIENTS

Maida (self-rising flour) – 2 cups (250 gm)
White Butter – 1 cup (125 gm) + 1 tsp (softened)
Sugar – 1 cup (125 gm) (Powder it after measuring)
Instant coffee – 2 tbsp 
Milk – 2 tbsp

Before going into the oven

METHOD

1. Powder the sugar and coffee granules after measuring.
2. Take a mixing bowl and add softened white butter and sugar-coffee powder to it.
3. Mix well before adding maida.
4. Mix with hand and add the milk to make a firm dough.
5. Dust flour on the kitchen platform and pat the dough on the surface to ¼ inch thickness.
6. Cut it into any preferred shape with a mould. I used a bottle cover to cut circles.
7. Take a baking tray and smear the surface with butter before dusting with flour. 
8. Use a thin spatula to remove cookies from platform and arrange them on the tray leaving half-an-inch space between cookies as they become larger while baking.
9. Pierce the cookies with a fork.
10. Preheat the oven at 250 degrees for ten minutes.
11. Bake the cookies at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes or till golden brown.

Allow the cookies to cool completely (takes about half an hour) before eating. Coffee Butter Cookies are simply delicious and melt in your mouth.

Just out of the oven

TIPS

a. The above ingredients suffice to make about 50 cookies.
b. They have to be made in batches as the oven cannot hold all of them at one go. During the last batch, the dough tends to dry up a bit. Sprinkle a few drops of milk to soften it before making the cookies at this point. 
c. Check the oven to ensure that the cookies don’t get burned as all ovens don’t function in exactly the same way. Switch off the timer if you think the cookies are done.