Yumm.. I have always had this uncontrollable palette for Italian food! But every time I dig in any of such gourmet stuff it leaves a hole in my pocket.
So this time I decided to deal wit this craving and cook some Italian delicacy at home only. What to make was the bone of contention? My taste buds were literally in a state of war. Whether to go for tried & tested Pizza or something new like Lasagna? Finally the Lasagna won and so started my quest for its ingredients and a flawless recipe.
The main ingredient for making Lasagna are the Lasagna sheets. For a first time try I didn’t wanted to buy the big pack of ready made sheets available in Delhi.
This is when my inspiration, my food guru, Sanjeev Kapoor bailed me out of this situation. I managed to find his recipe for making Lasagna sheets at home. I have a kind of blind faith on him. His recipes never fail and so I had to try this one also. Surprisingly all the ingredients were easily available at home.
So finally on a weekend I gave making Lasagna a shot.
Here’s my version of a delicious Chicken Lasagna made at home.
For making Lasagna Sheets:
Ingredients:
Plain Flour: 400 gms.
Eggs: 3
Olive Oil:4 tbsp (I used normal Sunflower Oil at home)
Salt to taste
Water for kneading
Method:
- Sift the flour and salt together in a mixing bowl. Add the Eggs and Oil in it.
- Mix and try to knead it as a dough. If water is required, add it to form a soft pliable dough.
- As I don’t have a pasta making machine and being good at rolling flat breads I used my rolling pin and rolled out very thin sheet and then cut it into smaller rectangular sheets. So my fresh lasagna sheets were ready to rock and roll in the main dish.
For making Tomato Sauce:
Ingredients:
Onion: 2 medium chopped
Tomato: 6 medium chopped + 3-4 for making tomato puree
Crushed Garlic Cloves: 10
Oil: 3-4 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Red Chilli Flakes: 2 tsp.
Sugar: 2-3 tbsp.
Method:
- Heat oil in a pan and add onions to it. Cook for a minute or so at medium heat. Now add crushed garlic, saute for 2-3 minutes or till onions turn translucent.
- Further add tomatoes and the puree. Cook till oil starts leaving from the sides. Lastly add all the seasoning. Cook until the mix has medium consistency. The sauce is ready.
For Spicy Mince Chicken Filling – Indian Style:
For a detailed recipe, please refer my another blog post – Spicy Mince Chicken Filling – Indian Style.
Lasagna Layering:
Ingredients:
Chicken Mince Filling
Tomato Sauce
Lasagna Sheet
Grated Cheese: I took Processed Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese & some Parmesan Cheese.
Salt to taste
Red Chili flakes
Italian Seasoning
Basil Leaves – roughly chopped.
Method:
- In a pan add water and just as it starts to boil add the lasagna sheets, 8-10 at a time. Cook for 2-3 mins. Until they become translucent. Pull them out of boiling water and immerse in cold water for a minute or two before layering.
- Take a baking dish preferably rectangular or squarish and grease it.
- Now add cooked pasta sheets, over lapping each other covering the bottom layer of dish. The second layer will be of the tomato sauce. Over it add some salt, chili flakes, basil leaves & Italian seasoning on it.
- Now add a layer of cheese mix. Further add the chicken filling layer. On top of this add a layer of mixed cheese. Repeat the whole layering process until it comes till the top of the baking dish. Last Layer being of cheese mix.
- Preheat the oven and place the dish for 20-30 minutes or until the top layer is bubbly and starting to brown. The Lasagna is ready serve hot after keeping it for 10 minutes.
It took a long time to finally be done and though my kitchen was all messed up but it was totally worth it! The taste what should I say, Finger licking, so Good!
Enjoy!