Vegetarian Lasagne (Indian Version)

I never imagined making this dish at home. Its quite a laborious task to put up this whole dish. You have lot of prep work to do and patience is the key. To be frank I didn’t know how to pronounce the name of this until I watched the show ‘Master chef Australia’. When we first ordered lasagne @ ‘Cre

I have never imagined that I might prepare Lasagna at home. Its quite a laborious task to put up this whole dish. You have lot of prep work to do and patience is the key. To be frank I didn’t know how to pronounce the name of this until I watched the show ‘Master chef Australia’. When we first ordered lasagne @ ‘Cream Centre’ Alwarpet it was soooo good with all those cheesy layers,spinach and veggies.

However I decided to go for a less cheese and more of vegetables version. You need at least 2 hours to prepare. In my lasagna I used 4 different components for layering. Mushrooms,white sauce,veggies dipped in tomato sauce,mashed potatoes and cheese of course.

I didn’t use any of the essential ingredients like Ricotta cheese or eggs or Parmesan cheese. I just used mozzarella cheese and some ‘Go Cheese’ cubes. I wouldn’t call it is a classic Italian Lasagna though. I prepared it according to my taste buds and with the available ingredients.

I have managed to give step by step instructions for all the components with some pictures. Appreciate your feedback on this 🙂

(LAYER 1) Ingredients for white sauce :

• Maida/All purpose flour – 3 tbsp
• Butter – 2 tbsp
• Fresh cream – 4 tbsp
• Milk – 1/2 cup
• Dried Oregano – 1 tbsp
• Grated cheese – 2 tbsp
• salt as required.

Method of Preparation :

1. First heat butter in a frying pan
2. Saute until the all purpose flour changes color
3. Then add milk and fresh cream
4. Stir continuously and make sure lumps are not formed
5. Add little salt, dried oregano and grated cheese to the above mixture
6. Once it starts thickening turn off the gas stove
7. White Sauce is ready now.

(LAYER 2) Ingredients for Tomato sauce with Veggies :

• Ripe Tomatoes – 6
• Garlic – 10 pods
• Green Chillies – 2
• Onions – 2
• Carrots – 2
• Capsicum (Red/Green/Yellow) – 3
• Salt – 1/2 tbsp
• Pepper powder – 1 tbsp
• Olive oil – 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation :

1. Boil water and add 4 tomatoes to it
2. Let them boil for about few minutes and then peel off the skin
3. Grind these tomatoes,garlic pods and then green chillies to a puree
4. Add salt and pepper powder and keep this tomato puree aside
5. Heat olive oil in a thick bottomed pan add all the chopped veggies
6. Saute until they are completely cooked. Add salt,pepper powder and water
7. Now add the tomato puree and let the whole mixture boil for about 5 minutes.

(LAYER 3) Ingredients for Potato mash

• Potatoes – 4
• Salt – 1/2 tbsp
• Pepper powder – 1/2 tbsp
• Grated cheese – 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation :

1. Pressure cook potatoes up to 5 whistles
2. Peel off the skin and mash the potatoes
3. Add little salt, cheese and pepper to the potatoes
4. This potato layer is optional. If you want you can skip this step.

(LAYER 4) Ingredients for Mushroom Layer

• Button Mushrooms – 200gms
• Garlic Pods – 5
• Onion – 1
• Salt – 1/2 tbsp
• Pepper powder – 1/2 tbsp
• Olive Oil – 1 tbsp.

Method of Preparation

1. Wash button mushrooms with water and wipe off the dust in top layer with a clean towel
2. Heat oil in a frying pan
3. Add garlic pods, onion and sauté until they are soft, translucent
4. Then add button mushrooms, salt and pepper powder
5. Sauté until the mushrooms are cooked. It took about 10 minutes to get cooked

Cooking *Lasagne *sheets.

1. Heat water in a thick bottomed pan
2. Add little vegetable oil and salt
3. Break the lengthy dried lasagna sheets into two and then cook them in boiled water
4. Cook 2 sheets at a time and ensure that the sheets are not sticking to each other while cooking

5\. Once they are cooked run them through cold water and keep the sheets aside.

How to arrange Lasagne for baking :

1.Preheat microwave oven at 180 degrees.

2.In a microwave safe bowl coat some butter.

3.Place few cooked sheets and then spread white sauce above it.

4.Then add some grated cheese.

5.Place some cooked sheets above this layer and then spread Mushrooms.

6.Now place some cooked sheets on top of it and spread veggies dipped in tomato sauce

7.Sprinkle grated cheese and dried oregano basil powder leaves on top

8.Place some cooked sheets and spread potato mash layer.

9.Again sprinkle some grated cheese, oregano and basil leaves.

10.Repeat the layering according to your choice.

Now place bowl in oven and bake it for about 25 minutes (In convecti
on mode)

I have seen people wrapping the bowl in an aluminium foil and then baking it.However I just baked the dish without wrapping it any foil. Once Lasagna is baked let it rest for about 10 minutes and then serve it.

My Indian version of Lasagna recipe ends here and the below pic is the output 🙂 Though the layers wasn’t as clear as a professional, overall it tasted incredible.