Million Dollar Spaghetti

This is a recipe that I saw floating around on Pinterest for awhile, but after reading it, I abandoned it as an option for India since it called for cream cheese and cottage cheese.

But lucky for us, my friend Christina figured out how to India-fy this one and it is so delicious!

It's rich and oh so cheesy - a crowd pleaser for sure!

So here's Christina with her Million Dollar Spaghetti method!

Million Dollar Spaghetti

Original Recipe

Serves 6-8 people

• 1 lb of Chicken Keema

• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce - or I make my own (instructions below)

• 8 oz of cream cheese or a similar substitute

• ¼ cup dahi

• 1 cup (200 grams) of paneer; you can either crumble it by hand or shred it and it will cook up great!

• ½ cup butter (1 stick) - this is just approximate, no need to measure it out, you’ll just be adding slices of butter as you go

• 1 pkg spaghetti 16 oz - this equals about 500 g

• Grated "Pizza Cheese", or gouda cheese, or a combination of the two.

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Boil your spaghetti noodles until al dente (firm). Drain and set aside until ready to assemble. Be careful not to let the noodles clump together when cooking. You can really taste this in the dish once it’s all done. If they do clump together when cooking, go ahead and separate them out as best you can by hand or with a fork.
2. Combine the cream cheese, dahi, and crumbled paneer until well blended. If any of your ingredients here are too hard to blend, you can put these in the microwave for a little bit of time. It will soften them and make everything easier to mix together.
3. Brown your chicken keema and combine with spaghetti sauce.
4. Put a few slices of butter into a 9x13 pan then pour half of your spaghetti noodles on top.
5. Take your cream cheese mixture and pour on top of the noodles. Spread well over noodles. If the consistency is too tough to spread, you can add a little more dahi to thin the mixture out a bit.
6. Pour the rest of the noodles on top of the cream cheese mixture. Put a few more slices of butter on top of the noodles.
7. Pour your spaghetti and meat sauce on top of your noodles. I like to make sure to cover all the noodles with sauce. If you don’t, then the ones that don’t get covered with get really crispy in the oven.
8. Now it is ready to put into the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, pour the desired amount of grated cheese on top and return to the oven for 15 minutes to allow cheese to melt.

Instructions for Homemade Spaghetti Sauce:

In a skillet on medium heat, combine 2-3 boxes of tomato puree, 1-2 teaspoons sugar (sugar takes the bite off the tomato sauce; start with one tsp and add more if necessary), a fair amount of garlic powder, onion powder, basil and oregano. Also add water to dilute the thickness if necessary. Different brands of tomato puree in India have different levels of thickness. You want your sauce not as thick as marinara but not too thin either. Let this simmer on the heat for about five minutes or so. The longer you cook it, the more water will evaporate out, so if your sauce starts out too thin, cook it longer. If you like the consistency as it, don’t leave it cooking for too long. 

Cheese mixture

Meat/sauce mixture

Yumminess