Macaroni with Cheese and Tuna

Ingredients straight down at the bottom

Another day another recipe.

Good people, I love macaroni okay? I love it with all of my heart however, this love did not start from when I was 3 years old as you may be thinking, it started from when I first tasted macaroni and that was when I was around the age of 10. I know you may be thinking “Oh my goodness Lele where do you live, and why on earth did you take so long to taste something as simple as macaroni?”, well honey sit down and get comfy as I tell you a story.

I was born and raised in Lesotho and please understand that I am not speaking for other families in my country, I’m speaking for my family and how I grew up. Growing up, my family did not really care about pasta, oh no not at all. What was normal to us was pap Monday to Saturday and rice on Sunday, believe me when I tell you that my siblings and I always looked forward to Sundays; we even called it “Sunday Plate”, it was that special my good people.

Every time my mom and I would go to the shops for grocery, I always asked myself what this “small tube looking thing” was, I was so curious but at the same time would not bother my mom with questions because every time we would leave our house to go shop, she would take out a piece of paper and say “Lele, this is our budget and we are only buying what is on this budget, nothing more and nothing less”. So really, all I did was just to wonder what this “small tube looking thing was”.

However; you cannot wonder forever, as we all know, there ought to be an answer somewhere somehow in the end. So the day I finally got an answer as to what that small tube looking thing was, is the day my friend came with macaroni to school for lunch. You cannot even begin to imagine my excitement, I was so happy that finally this mystery was going to be solved, and I was so looking forward to lunch. After what seemed like a century lunch time finally came, my friend and I went to our usual eating area, I didn’t even want the bread and polony my mom had made for me, I wanted my friend’s lunch, I wanted macaroni.

I wish I made a video that day so that you’d see how happy I was, I was so excited that one tear dropped as I ate my first “small-tube looking thing”, lol, I’m kidding, there was no tear but I sure was so excited and it tasted amazing. Then later at night after my mom got back from work, me tasting macaroni was all I told her about until we went to bed. She told me that she would have bought me macaroni a long time ago, told me that she had no idea that I would love it so much and in my mind I was like “(but woman you are my mom, you are supposed to try new things on us and see if we like them)”, I couldn’t say that out loud though or else I would have gotten a slap that would send me straight to bed.

So my mom started buying macaroni all thanks to me, ofcourse! She taught me how to cook it and from there, for me for the first few months after learning it wasn’t pap from Monday to Saturday anymore and rice on Sundays, it was now macaroni from Monday to Saturday and rice on Sundays. I loved macaroni so much (still do) that I didn’t want anything on it, I wanted it just white and plain, no gravy or meat on the side, until of course one day.

One day, on Christmas day during lunch, I tasted something that on that day, it was the best thing I’d ever tasted before. It was macaroni with cheese and tuna, and it was made by my MOM!!! The reason that surprised me is because to my knowledge, my mom had never made macaroni before I asked her to start buying it. I was really shocked that something so good was made by her, so she had to teach me the recipe immediately which she did. And years later here I am about to share that recipe with you my good people. It’s been quite a journey for me and this “small tube looking thing”, lol.

Thank you for reading, find the recipe down below....UNTIL NEXT TIME MY GOOD PEOPLE, BYE FOR NOW!!!

INGREDIENTS

· 2 cups of macaroni

· Tuna (170g)

· 1 ½ Tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce

· 2 Tablespoons of mayonnaise

· 1 cup of diced cheese

· 1 cup of diced cucumber

· Aromat for taste (optional)

DIRECTIONS

· Cook your macaroni as per instruction on the package

· After cooking, pour your macaroni in a large bowl and add your diced cheese then stir

· Now add your tuna to the macaroni and diced cheese, when you see that they are well mixed together, add the chili sauce and mayonnaise, then stir well

· Finally add your cucumber and then aromat to taste(optional). You can stop at this step and enjoy your meal, or you can put it in the oven for the cheese to melt and stick everything together. I must admit, I love it more when the cheese is melted.

· So if you are going to continue and bake it, in your casserole dish, pour and spread out the above mix.

· Top is off with grated cheese nicely spread out then put in the oven

· Bake at 200c for 20minutes

· Best served hot. Enjoy the yummy macaroni with cheese and tuna.

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