It was raining badly yesterday thanks to Jall cyclone and we had to stay indoors all day. With so much of time, we thought of having something special for dinner and zeroed on Lasagna. Lasagna is our favorite Italian food. When I searched for recipes, I got this from Tarla dalal's Facebook discussion board. I altered it to suit to our taste and the ingredients available with me. It is an elaborate process but it was worth it!
Red tomato sauce:
Tomatoes - 4
Onion - 1
Salt - as required
Garlic pods - 10
Chilly powder - as required
Sugar - 1 spoon
Italian seasoning - 1 spoon(contains thyme, oregano, basil)
Prepare a puree with blanched tomatoes and onion. Add salt, chilli powder and sugar and cook in medium flame till the sauce is almost thick. Add the chopped garlic pods. Cook for another 5 mins. Finally add the italian seasoning and switch off the stove.
White/Bechamel Sauce:
APF - 2 spoons
Milk - 2 cups
Salt - as required
Pepper powder - as required
Mozzarella cheese - about 1/4 cup( recipe asked for Fresh cream)
Butter - 2 spoons
Over low flame melt the butter and add the flour. Simply cook it for 2 mins. Add 2 cups of milk to it and continue stirring for about another 2 mins. Add the salt and pepper. The milk will start to thicken. Add the mozzarella cheese to it and cook for another minute.
Filling:
Carrot, Beans, Sweet corn, cabbage(vegetables as preferred) - Boiled about 3 cups
Crumbled paneer - 1 cup
Onion - 2 chopped finely
Salt - as required
pepper powder as required
Kitchen king masala - 1/2 spoon
Add 1 spoon of oil in a frying pan, add the onions and fry till cooked. Add the vegetables and continue frying. Add the Salt, Pepper powder, Kitchen king masala. Now add Panneer to it and cook for 2 mins.
Lasagna sheets:
APF - 1 cup
Cold butter - 1 Spoon
Salt - as required
Water
Oil - 1 spoon
Knead the above ingredients into the consistency of poori dough. Take about a lemon size dough and roll it like a thin chappathi. Cut into broad square pieces. Boil about 1.5 litres of water with a spoon of oil in a wide vessel. Put the thin broad pieces in the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Take care to put only 4 pieces at a time so that they dont overlap each other in the water. Take the strips out and strain them.
Final Assembly:
I used a circle cake pan. Spread the lasagna sheet first without leaving any space. Apply the tomato sauce on the sheets. Now layer with the vegetable filling. Apply the white sauce over the vegetable layer. Now again layer with the lasagna sheet, tomato sauce, Vegetable filling and finally white sauce. Shred some mozzarella cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 200 deg for 20 mins.
There is a layer of spinach but we couldnt get out and buy it so just left it. This layer is after the tomato sauce.
