Sweet Little Things: Vegetable Lasagna

So, I tried my own version of Vegetable Lasagna as my husband is not much a fan of foreign food. Lasagna has different layers of stuffing and a lot of cheese. Here in this recipe I have kept the calories in count.

Ingredients:

Stuffing 1: Spinach and corn

Spinach: 10 leaves nicely cleaned and partly blanched
Corn kernels: 1 ½ handful
Mixed herbs: 1 tbsp.
Chilli Flakes: ½ tbsp.
Oil/ Butter: 1 tbsp.
Salt: According to taste

Stuffing 2: White sauce with mixed vegetables
Capsicum: 1 finely chopped
Carrot; 1 small, finely chopped
Onion: 1 finely chopped
Beans: 5. Finely chopped
Any other kind of vegetable finely chopped (mushrooms, broccoli, bell peppers, parsley etc.)
Butter: 2 tbsp.
All-purpose flour: 2 tbsp.
Milk: Half cup
Salt and pepper: According to taste

Tomato Sauce:
Tomatoes: 2-3 big blanched and peeled
Garlic: 2-3 finely chopped
Oil/ Butter: 1 tbsp.
Salt and pepper: According to taste
Red chilli sauce: 2 tbsp.

Lasagna Sheets: 6 (I usually take 1 extra apart from the 6)
Oil/ Butter
Cheese: 2- 3 cubes

Procedure:

Take a flat bottomed pan and add water in it and heat it up until the water starts boiling. Now add a little salt and oil in the water and put the lasagna sheets in it (I bought readymade wheat lasagna sheets, you can also make these at home, I will post a tutorial of the same some other time). While the sheets are boiling, lets start with the corn and spinach stuffing. Take a pan and heat some oil in it, add the corn kernels and both the chilli flakes and mixed herbs and stir for a while. Now, add the blanched spinach leaves (you can chop them also) and cover the pan for about 5-7 minutes and keep aside.

Take all the chopped veggies together and sauté them for 3-4 minutes in oil, salt and pepper and keep aside. Take another pan and add butter in it. To this add the all-purpose flour and stir for a while and then add Milk and start mixing it again. You can use a whisker so that no lumps form. Mix it well until a thick mixture is formed. Add salt and pepper, you can also add cheese to make it more heavy. To this sauce mix all the sautéed veggies and keep aside.

Don’t forget to take out the lasagna sheets of the boiling water. Be careful with them as they tend to get stuck to each other. Take out one at a time and apply good amount of oil to it or you can add them directly to cold water. For the tomato sauce, take a pan and heat some oil in it. Add the garlic and the puree of the blanched tomatoes, after 3 minutes add the red chilli sauce and then the salt and pepper. Keep it on low flame for a while and then turn the flame off.

Now for the plating, start off with a nice utensil which goes with whatever thing you are using to bake it in. I have a gas tandoor, so I took a fancy tandoor friendly cake pan. Keep two sheets of lasagna and coat them with a little butter. Now add the spinach and corn stuffing, a little tomato sauce and some grated cheese and cover it again with a layer of 2 lasagna sheets and brush them with butter. Now, spread the white sauce mixture on it and also some tomato sauce and cheese. To this, add once again a layer of the sheets and repeat spreading the mixture as you like it. On the top, spread some tomato sauce that we made and some grated cheese with a little parsley. Keep this in the oven or a tandoor and let it bake. I kept it in my gas tandoor and it took about 15 minutes until the cheese got melted and the sides turned a little red. Serve hot.