What is Lasanga

Lasagna, is an one pot Italian dish made of stacked layers of thin flat pasta alternating with fillings such as ground meats and tomato sauce, vegetables, cheese sauce (which may include ricotta and parmesan), and seasonings and spices such as garlic, oregano and basil. The dish may be topped with melted grated mozzarella cheese. Typically, the cooked pasta is assembled with the other ingredients and then baked in an oven.

My version of Lasanga

I made a relatively healthy version of lasanga with homemade lasanga sheets. Generally,  lasanga is made with store bought lasanga sheets.  But I made rhem fresh, and they are even better than store bought.
I made a  meat with Indian flavour and also substituted cheese sauce with a sauce made with hung curd, egg and fresh herbs.

Homemade Lasanga sheets

You will be amazed to know how is it easy to make lasanga sheets or pasta at your home without any special equipment. You just need maida/wheat flour/semolina flour to make lasanga sheets. I made basic lasanga sheets, but you can make these sheets colourful and nutritious by using vegetable/herb  juices to the pasta dough . I used eggs to make the sheets, but you can make them without eggs also. I will share another recipe of eggless and colourful lasanga sheets or pasta.

Recipe

• Preparation time: 30 min
• Baking time: 40 min
• Serves: 6
• Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients of Lasanga Sheets

• 1 cup Maida/All Purpose Flour
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tbsp Olive oil
• Salty water to boil the sheets

Ingredients of keema tomato sauce

• 3 big Tomatoes
• 350 grams Minced Meat(lamb keema)
• 2 medium sized Onion
• 1 small Carrot grated
• 2 tablespoon Tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Tomato Ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Ginger-Garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red Chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon Curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Garam masala powder
• 1 teaspoon Kasuri methi
• 2 tablespoons Olive oil
• 3-4 Whole Black peppers
• 2-3 Cloves
• 1 inch size Cinnamon
• Salt as per your taste
• 1 pinch of Sugar

Ingredients of Cheese sauce

• 350 g Hung Curd
• 150 g Cream Cheese
• 1/2 tsp crushed Black peppers
• 1/2 tsp Chilli flakes
• 1 pinch of Salt
• 1 tbsp chopped Parsley or Coriander

Other ingredients

• 2 cup sliced red Pumpkin (optional)
• 2 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• 2 tablespoon Tomato Ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Breadcrumbs
• Extra Coriander leaves to garnish

Method to make meat sauce

Roughly chop tomatoes and carrot.
With the help of a blender , blend to make a puree. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a big pan. Temper with cloves,whole black peppers and cinnamon. Then add in chopped onion.

Saute for 3-4 minutes and then add in ginger-garlic paste.

Saute for another minute and then add minced meat.

Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Then add in prepared tomato -carrot puree and mix.

Also add in tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Next add in the spice and seasonings like kashmiri red chilli powder, curry powder, garam masala powder, sugar and salt.

Cook the mixture in medium heat 2-3 minutes. Then add in 1/2 cup of hot water and cook for about 15 minutes. Add in more water in between if necessary.

When the mixture cooks well and comes to a saucy consistency,  add in tomato ketchup, kasuri methi and chopped coriander. Mix well , check the seasoning and remove from heat.  Your meat sauce is ready now.

Peel and cut pumpkin in thin pieces.
Dry roast them in a pan so that pumpkin pieces become soft and little charred. Set aside.

Method to make lasanga sheets

Take 1 cup of maida or all purpose flour to a mixing bowl.
Make a hole at the centre and add in 1 egg, salt and olive oil.

With a fork beat egg and gradually mix flour from the sides.

Then with your hand make a little stiff dough with required amount of water.
Knead the dough for several minutes so that gluten becomes active a d the dough becomes smooth and stretchy. Also the dough will be little sticky to touch.

Also the dough will be little sticky to touch.
Cover the dough and rest for at least half an hour.

After resting time place the dough in the workplace,  knead further 2-3 minutes and then divide the dough into 2 equal parts.

Take one part and roll it to make a thin sheet.

Cut the sheet into 2 inch wide strips.
Repeat the process with the remaining dough also.

To a broad pan heat sufficient water with1 teaspoon of salt.

When water becomes roaring boil, drop 3-4 lasanga sheets at a time and cook for 3 minutes. Don’t over crowd the vessel to avoid sticking the sheets together.

With a tongue,  take out each cooked sheet from water and place to a baking sheet or silicone mat.  This will help to handle the sheets easily.

Similarly cook all the sheets for 3 minutes and place to  baking sheet.
Don’t overcook the lasanga sheets , they should be little firm after cooking. As they will further cook while baking.

Method to make cheese sauce

I take regular curd and place them in a big strainer for 3-4 hours in the refrigerator to get creamy and thick hung curd. You can keep them in the strainer overnight also.

Take thick hung curd into a mixing bowl.
Add in cream cheese , chopped herbs,crush Black pepper, salt and chilli flakes.

Mix everything well to make thick and healthy cheese sauce. Set aside.

Assembling

Take a square or rectangle baking dish . I used rectangular baking dish of size (7×4) inch.

Place a layer of prepared meat sauce at the bottom of the dish.

Next place the roasted pumpkin pieces.  If you are not using pumpkin pieces, just skip the step. I used for more creamy texture of lasanga. Even you can use roasted eggplant also.

Also spoon some tomato ketchup.

Now spread prepared cheese sauce to make another layer.

Place cooked lasanga sheets over the cheese sauce.

Then again spread some meat sauce to cover the lasanga sheets.

Now make a layer of mozzarella cheese, followed by another layer of roasted pumpkin and cheese sauce.

Place again lasanga sheets over the cheese sauce.

Finally place again meat sauce, cheese sauce and mozzarella.
At last sprinkle some bread crumbs and tomato ketchup which will help to get a nice colour to lasanga.

Cover the dish with aluminium foil.

Preheat oven at 180 degrees Centigrade for 10 minutes.

Bake the prepared lasanga for 30 minutes in preheated oven at 180 degrees Centigrade.

After 30 minutes,  remove the foil, and further bake for 10 minutes. This will give a nice brown crusty texture to your lasanga.

After 10 minutes, check the top of the lasanga, if some brown spots appear on the top, and it’s  bubbling , take out from oven to cool down for 10 minutes.

After cooking a little bit,  cut the lasanga into desired squre shapes with a knife.

Carefully transfer to individual dish and serve warm.

Notes

Lasanga always tastes better if it is creamy and juicy. Dry texture is not recommended for any type of lasanga. So be generous to use meat/cheese sauce.

When cook lasanga sheets, be sure that they are not overcooked. They should be little firm to touch. It is necessary to get a nice shape of the pieces. So cook accordingly.

You can use any other type of cheese at the top. For example, if you have cheddar cheese, use it at the top, it will give better flavour. As I have a lot of mozzarella cheese in my refrigerator, I used them.