Mushroom and mozzarella lasagna

Basically, I have a weakness for baked cheese and dishes that are generously sprinkled with cheese on top like pizza, lasagna, potato gratins, cheese macaroni etc. Lasagna has remained a firm favourite with me since school-going days. It is one of those scrumptious one-dish meals that can be made both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. For me, nurturing my loved ones is my foremost way of displaying love. On a day such as Valentine's Day, I want to treat my family to something special and in my mind, lasagna is that perfect meal to be served on an occasion like this. I also wanted to make this a vegetarian fare with mushroom and mozzarella.

To assemble the lasagna you need bechamel sauce, ragu sauce and lasagna noodles. I followed Ancy's recipe and steps on everything except to make the ragu sauce. Ragu sauce is the meat sauce and I opted to make a vegetarian mushroom sauce instead. The lasagna turned out creamy and delicious. Making lasagna is less time-consuming than most would think. If you like lasagna, don't be afraid to give it a try. Thank you, Ancy, for the delicious recipe and the clear instructions. You can click here to visit her space and view her recipe. I also want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone has an enjoyable day today.

Ragu sauce:
5 tomatoes
200 g mushrooms
1 cup water
4 tsp tomato purée
4-5 garlic cloves
4 tsp olive oil
1 tbs dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tsp sugar

Bechamel sauce:
50 g salted butter
4 tbs all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk (500 ml)
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of grated nutmeg

For assembly:
Lasagna noodles (as required)
20 g salted butter
150-200 g mozzarella cheese

Method:
To make the sauce, begin by cutting the tomatoes. Finely chop the garlic. Slice the mushroom and put aside. Mix the tomatoes and garlic in a mixer, before cooking them. In a large pan, add oil, the tomatoes, water and tomato puree. Mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix and cook on medium to below medium heat, until the mushrooms are soft. The sauce should not be too thick (the water will be absorbed by the lasagna noodles when placed in the oven). Put aside this while preparing the bechamel sauce.

To make the bechamel sauce, heat the butter on below medium heat. Once it has melted, turn the heat to medium heat. Sieve the flour into butter, while stirring so that it doesn't get burnt on the bottom. Continue to stir for another 8 minutes or so until the sauce has turned light golden brown. Then add the milk, little by little, while stirring. You need to continue to stir for another 10 or so until the sauce has thickened. Half way into this process, season the sauce with salt and pepper. Take the sauce away from the stove but don't stop stirring. I stirred for another 5 minutes to steam off the heat (as it was still very hot) so that the cream didn't get burnt on the bottom.

I used lasagna sheets/noodles that don't require pre-cooking. If you have bought lasagna noodles that need to be precooked, please follow the instructions given and pre-cook them accordingly. To assemble the lasagna, use half of the butter to brush the bottom and the sides of a baking or oven-safe dish. Add some bechamel sauce and even it out on the bottom. Arrange one layer of the lasagna sheets, with the edges overlapping. Spoon the ragu sauce over the noddles and spread it evenly on it. Then spoon in some bechamel sauce and repeat the process. I repeated the process until my ragu sauce was finished. Spare some bechamel sauce to place on the topmost lasagna sheet. Grate or slice the mozzarella cheese and spread it over the bechamel sauce. Dollop the remaining butter on top. Bake the lasagna in the bottom third of a preheated oven at 175 C (350 F) for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool down to room temperature before serving.

Egg Biryani

Today I made an attempt to make egg biryani, in the rice-cooker, adapting recipes from Vahchef and Sailu's Kitchen. This biryani was quite easy to make, as I did not include any meat that called for elaborate marinating and cooking. This biryani made for a hearty meal today. A biryani is as much about the flavours as it is about the aroma. Spices such as cloves, cardamom and cinnamon play an integral part in making the biryani, if you or anyone in your family don't like the pungency of whole cloves and cardamoms, you can grind these into a powder, instead of excluding them.

Rice:
1 cup basmati rice
Water (as required)
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
1/2 tbs oil
1-2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt

Masala:
2 cloves
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 cardamom pod
1/2 star anise
1/4 tsp shah jeera or cumin

Saute:
4-5 boiled eggs
1 onion
1/2 cup salted cashew nuts
3-4 tbs ghee or oil
2 green chilis
2 tbs coriander leaves (adjust)
2 tsp garlic-ginger paste
1 tsp chili powder
2-3 tbs curd or sour cream (adjust)
Salt to taste

Method:
Boil the eggs and peel them. Put aside. Grind the masala ingredients into a fine powder. Slice the onion and green chilis. Finely chop and grind the garlic and ginger into a fine paste. In a large pan, heat some ghee or oil. Add the masala powder, chili powder, onion, green chili, salt and saute until fragrant and golden brown. Add the cashew nuts and saute. The cashew nuts have a tendency to get burnt if you add them initially with the onion so don't add the until the onion is sauted at least half way or pre-roast the cashew nuts.

If you like, you can add the boiled eggs at this stage and marinate them in this onion masala, slit or whole. Put aside the eggs and half of the onion-cashew mixture in a bowl. Now add garlic-ginger paste and the coriander. Add the curd and mix. You can adjust the amount of coriander and curd according to your preferences. Take the saute away from the stove.

Add the water required to boil the rice in the rice cooker and bring it to a boil. Meanwhile, rinse and drain the rice properly. When the water is boiling, add turmeric, salt, oil, and the spices (whole). Mix a little. Then add the rice into the rice-cooker. Add the sauted onion-curd mixture and lightly mix. Close the lid and let the rice boil with the sauted onion-curd mixture and all the spices into an aromatic one-pot meal. Serve the biryani with the boiled egg and the sauted onion-cashew nuts and other side dishes of your choice.

I have sent this post as my entry to the "Royal Feast - Biryani" event and a Giveaway at Kaarasaaram.

Kothu Roti

This is the ubiquitous street food 'kothu roti' recipe. Kothu roti literally means chopped roti, but from what I have observed at the roadside kothu huts, it is usually paratha. There are many different types of kothu rotis. When we make kothu roti at home, we usually make "chicken kothu".

To make the chicken kothu, you need to prepare the chicken curry separately and the roti/paratha separately. These two items are then chopped and fried together with various vegetables and egg. At the kothu huts a heated iron sheet and blades that look like dough scrapers are typically used to make this. We prepare kothu roti in a large pan and it works just fine. 

Roti:
2 1/2 cups flour
Water (as required)
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
Oil

Chicken curry:
1 chicken
1 onion
1/2 tsp cumin
3-4 garlic cloves
2-3 green chilis
1 tbs curry powder
2-2 1/2 cups water
Lemon juice to taste
Salt to taste

Stir-fry:
Pinch of mustard seeds
Pinch of cumin
Curry leaves
6 green chili
2 small onions
2 cups cabbage/leeks/spring onion
2 carrots
2 eggs
Salt to taste

In a bowl, add flour and mix flour and salt. Then pour 1 cup of water in small quantities and knead the dough. Add some more water if needed. If you are inexperienced when it comes to kneading doughs this may be a troublesome step for you but don't give up. With some will you can get it together. When you are finished kneading the dough, add some oil and roll the dough in oil. Wrap up the dough in a plastic sheet so that it doesn't get dry and let it rest while you prepare the chicken curry.

First clean and chop the chicken in small sizes. In a large cooking pot, heat some table spoons of oil. Add cumin seeds, chopped onion, garlic and green chili and fry until light brown. Add the chicken chunks, mix and fry. Close the cooking pot with a lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes on medium to high heat, but take the lid off and stir every once in a while until it's half-cooked and has changed colour. Then add the curry powder and mix well. Drizzle the water, salt and let the chicken curry cook for about 30-40 minutes. Add the lemon juice last before taking the chicken curry off the stove. Taste and adjust spices before taking it away from the stove.

Chop the vegetables needed to make the kothu roti. I like cabbage but you could also use leeks or the green part of spring onions depending on your preferences. I would advise to make the kothu roti in 2 batches. Chop all of onion, green chilis, carrots, curry leaves and cabbage at once and then divide into two batches.

Roll out the roti on a lightly oiled surface. Heat a pan and heat the roti on both sides. Then cut the rotis into small pieces with a knife or a food scissor. In a large pan heat some oil, add mustard seeds and let splutter. Then add cumin. In the same pan, fry onion, curry leaves, and green chilis. Then add the cabbage and stir-fry well. Lastly, add the carrots and salt. Shove the vegetables to the side in the pan or take it out and place it in a plate. Whisk an egg and add some salt in it. Pour the egg in the pan and scramble it. Mix the vegetables and the scrambled egg, add the roti pieces and mix. Then spoon in the chicken curry (chicken chunks as well as curry) and mix. Serve warm!

Pizza

This is a vegetarian/vegetable pizza. This recipe produces 2 pizzas.

Dough:
25 g fresh yeast
1 cup lukewarm water (37 C)
2 tbs oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 2/3 cup flour

Tomato sauce:
3 mashed/sliced tomatoes
1/3 cup water
2 tsp olive oil
2-3 tsp tomato purée
2 tsp dry oregano (or fresh)
Some fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper to taste

Topping:
Tomato purée
Tomato sauce
Mushrooms
Onion
Capsicum
Fried eggplants (optional)
Tomato (optional)
Jalapeno (optional)
Oregano
Cheese

If you decide to make the pizza sauce yourself, make it first, because you can't spread a warm/hot pizza sauce on the unbaked pizza. You can make your own tomato sauce by cooking mashed tomatoes, water, finely sliced garlic, olive oil, basil leaves/oregano, salt and pepper. Let it cook until it gets a gravy like consistency.

Heat the water to 37 C. Crumble the yeast into a bowl and add the lukewarm water and stir with a spoon or your hand till water dilutes the yeast completely. Add oil and salt, lightly stir. Add the flour and knead and work the dough for 10 minutes. Let it rest covered in a bowl for 30 minutes. Meanwhile cut the pizza toppings. You could virtually add anything edible on your pizza. My mother likes fried eggplants on hers and I like jalapeno, for instance.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface and place it in a pizza tray or roll it out on a oven sheet directly. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes covered or covered. This will help the dough rise more. Spread the toppings. Start with the tomato puree/tomato sauce and finish with oregano/cheese. Bake in preheated oven at 200 C (almost 400 F) in the middle part of the oven for about 15-20 minutes.