Lasagna is a
complete meal with all the food groups covered in one dish. There are a variety
of ways to cook lasagna. It can be vegetarian with all vegetables and
cheese. Then, any type of meat such as
beef, turkey, or chicken can be used in the dish. Lasagna can be made with
Italian spices like basil, oregano etc to make the dish taste Italian. No matter what type of lasagna you enjoy, you
can always make your own variation in the sauce which is an important ingredient
in the making of lasagna.
Originally,
in Italy,
the word "lasagna" did not refer to a food (in fact, today, the food
is still spelled "lasagne" as the plural form). The word
"lasagna" referred to the pot in which the food was cooked. It is
thought that the word "lasagna" for the pot is derived from the Greek
word for "chamber pot.
The earliest
lasagna recipes known are dated from the thirteenth century. At that time,
tomatoes were not known to Europeans.
Tomatoes did not arrive in Europe until after Columbus
reached America
in 1492. This means that they couldn't
have used them in the recipes.
However, depending on the recipe, different
cheeses like ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan are used today.
Boiling
noodles used to be a requirement for making lasagna. No-boil noodles now exist.
These are great as they soften in the oven, but it is absolutely necessary to
make sure that there is a great quantity of sauce so the noodles get wet and
cook while they are in the oven. If any
part of the noodle is not covered with the sauce, that part will turn hard.
I had my niece over so we prepared the
vegetable lasagna from the scratch. We
tried to give this famous Italian dish an Indian tarka by adding some Indian
spices. Of course homemade paneer(farmer’s
cheese) or chena used in this lasagna is very Indian touch or tarka. Everyone liked and had second helpings. The easy part is one can prepare the paneer
stuffing and marinara sauce a day in advance so that on the day of the lunch or
dinner you have to just put things together and bake the lasagna.
Ingredients
for making paneer:
Whole milk 2 liters, lemon juice ¼ cup, cheese cloth
Method:
Boil milk in a heavy bottom pan over medium
flame. As the milk comes to a boil, add
the lemon juice gradually and stir. The
milk will curdle. Turn off the flame and
let it cool off a little. Take a cheese cloth
or any muslin cloth. Place it on a
strainer and strain the curdled milk. Now collect the opposite links of the
cheese cloth, tie them and hang on the water tap in the kitchen sink. Before hanging them let this bundle run under
fresh water for a few seconds so that lemon flavor does not stay in the
cheese. Let all the water drain. It will take about two hours or so for all
the water to drain and even then squeeze the cheeses cloth between your two
palms so that all the excess water drains out.
Take out of the cheese cloth in a plate and mash it with your fingers.
Ingredients
for making cheese stuffing:
Onions 1 large and one medium, green chilly(or
green pepper) 1 or 2, cooking oil 1 tbsp, cumin seeds ½ tsp, coriander powder 1 tsp, salt to taste, mashed paneer(cheese)
Method:
Peel and chop onions and green chilly (green
pepper) in small pieces.
Heat oil in a pan; add cumin seeds, chopped
onions and green chilly or pepper. Saute it for a couple of minutes or till
onion turn light pink. Add salt and
coriander powder to it and mix well. Now
add mashed paneer, stir it and turn off the flame.
Ingredients
for tomato sauce:
Most
people use spaghetti sauce for the lasagna but I use marinara sauce.
Olive oil 1 ½ tbsp, big onion 1 chopped, garlic cloves 2 chopped, dry basil leaves ½ tsp, oregano ¼ tsp, sugar
1 tsp, salt to taste, fresh tomatoes 6 medium size chopped, tomato ketchup ¼
cup, ¼ tsp cumin seeds, ¼ tsp coriander powder
Method:
In pan heat oil, add cumin seeds. When they stop spluttering, add oregano,
chopped garlic and onion and sauté it for 4 minutes on medium flame. When onion turn light brown, turn off the
flame. Let it cool off.
Put this mixture in the food processor along
with chopped tomatoes and puree it.
Put this mix in the same pan and cook till a
boil. Add salt, sugar, ketchup,
coriander powder and basil leaves. Let
the sauce simmer for 10 -12 minutes. You
may add more sugar depending on your taste.
Turn off the heat.
Ingredients
for Lasagna:
No boil
Lasagna noodles 6 pieces, white cheddar cheese grated 1 cup, 9”X 5” loaf pan
Method
for putting Lasagna together:
In the baking dish spread some sauce and
arrange one lasagna noodle on it. Spread more sauce on the noodle, then a layer
of cooked paneer (cheese) on it and sprinkle some cheddar cheese. Now take another lasagna noodle and repeat
the same process of sauce, paneer (cheese) and cheddar cheese in that order. Keep repeating till you reach the top of the
baking pan. Pour some more sauce on the
top layer and sprinkle cheddar cheese generously.
Pre heat oven to 375 degree F (210 degree
C). Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let it stand for 5 to 10
minutes before serving.
Some people prefer mozzarella and Parmesan
cheese in lasagna but I prefer cheddar.
So it is purely your choice.
There is nothing wrong or right about it. You may garnish it with black olives before serving.