Anyone on how to Lasagna in Indian homes?

chits007 · Aug 23rd, 2008, 15:31

Guys any idea by which we can make easily..i guess lasagna sheets not easily available ? can we make them @ home ?

Nick-H · Aug 23rd, 2008, 15:37

I noticed quite a good selection of pasta in a local Nuts'n'Spices the other day. Not sure, but it might have included lasagne. If Chennai has it, I'm sure you're part of the world will!

A purist, of course, would make all their own pasta at home, but it requires a specific kind of wheat flower, and then there are various machines for rolling, cutting and producing the different shapes.

Lasagne is a dish that needs to be baked, so it is not going to be possible in Indian homes generally, for lack of an oven, but you should be able to cook it in your convection oven.

machadinha · Aug 23rd, 2008, 15:42

I'm sure there would be Italian cookbooks on sale in Delhi, or there are many many websites devoted to cooking that should help you along.

Khandoma · Aug 24th, 2008, 13:56

Lasagna dough, in terms of "various machines", requires but a rolling pin, a knife, and plenty of time and energy. Here's my recipe.

Ingredients :
500 g of white sifted wheat flour
5 eggs
1 small glass of water (room temperature)
2 Pinches of salt

Step 1 :
In a large, possibly earthenware, bowl, pour the flour and shape it into a well. Break the eggs into the well. Add the water and salt.
Work the dough pushing the flour bit by bit into the egg-water mix. Stop as soon as the mix is complete : the dough should be soft and supple. Wrap into a kitchen towel and let sit (not in fridge) for 30 mn.

Step 2 :
With a knife, cut your dough into 4 or 5 parts. With a rolling pin, on a workplace sprinkled with flour, roll each ball of dough into a very thin sheet. Let each sheet dry in the open for 15 mn, do not touch it in the meantime.

Step 3 :
With a knife, cut your sheets into the final strips of pasta, to the size of your cooking dish.

I recommend that you pre-cook your strips in the oven before garnishing them with meat and bechamel sauce.

Hope this helps.
Chits007, if you make this in India, let me know what you garnish it with, I'm curious.
Bon appétit !

Nick-H · Aug 24th, 2008, 14:18

Quote:

Lasagna dough, in terms of "various machines", requires but a rolling pin, a knife

No gadget involved?

Boring

!

Khandoma · Aug 24th, 2008, 14:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick-H

No gadget involved?
Boring

!

What's going to be much less boring IMHO is how our friend Chits manages a beef dish in India.
A dish that requires a parmigiano bechamel (I get a 40% success rate at this one, and I've bee trying for 20 yrs) and an oven you can trust with your eyes closed. Well, solution comes from experimentation, I guess.

Chits : you can replace the chopped beef with minced ham or lamb, and grilled eggplant added into the mix is good. But for the bechamel, I'm a bit short on alternative options. I can investigate if you like.

Important Edit to my Recipe : Just realized that the times I gave to let the pasta sit are European times. If you are in a place where it's much warmer and moister than, say, Italy, add a good 15 mn to the above times.

Nick-H · Aug 24th, 2008, 15:05

Beef, contrary to popular opinion, is not so hard to find in India! It is certainly more common than ovens!

chits007 · Aug 24th, 2008, 16:54

Thanks Khandoma ..I will try to make some Sunday...lasagna sheets looks easy to make ..
being a hindu I will use chicken (no beek/ham etc) the kind of cheese u are mentioning may be difficult to find in the supermarket here...will use feta/cheddar or any pizza chesse from the super market..

Khandoma · Aug 24th, 2008, 17:58

Hi Chits007,

Yes, lasagna sheets are easy to make. It's the rest of the recipe that's tough. Apologies, I didn't know you were a hindu. Chicken will need to be well-seasoned before you cook it.

Whatever you do, do not use feta !
Feta will not melt well. Mozzarella (pizza cheese) will cook too fast for the pasta.
Cheddar, well, it's an option, I guess. Taste on the strong side, but since you're using chicken it'll balance well, and melt well too.
Parmigiano cheese, the best for this recipe, is sometimes sold under the names "Parmesan", "Parmigiano Regianno" (yummy), "Grana Padano" (not the real thing but close enough for a sauce). All this is rather more expensive than cheddar or pizza cheese.

Do I understand that you're skipping the bechamel sauce part altogether ? If you just add your cheese to the meat, the cheese will overcook, the meat will dry up and the mixture will not be mellow in your mouth. If the cheese does not overcook, then the dough is still raw.
If you want a simple option, I'm comfident you can find pre-mixed bechamel sauce in bottles, cans or even powder, at the same supermarket where you get your cheese. (Mom, if you read this, it's my evil twin writing.) Prepare the sauce according to directions on the box, then pour into a small saucepan and add 100 grams of emmental / gruyere cheese, (or cheddar), or half of this and half mozzarella, in small cubes or grated, over low fire. Add a good pinch of grated nutmeg.
Then pour some sauce over each layer of pasta + meat.
Top your lasagna with sauce, then sprinkle cheese.
Use only the convection mode of your oven. Preheat very hot.
Let us know how it went !

Nick-H · Aug 24th, 2008, 18:12

Whilst it may be difficult to make sauces in the proper way, that a chef would approve, a simple white sauce is very easy, and a cheese sauce is just a white sauce with cheese added!

This is the idiot's white sauce, one of the first things I ever learnt to cook:

Melt some butter in a pan, you can lightly fry some onion in it, but then, of course, your sauce will have onion lumps in it.

Take a couple of teaspoons cornflower, or any very fine flour may do (it takes expiriment to see) and mix with just a little milk to form a smooth paste. add a little more milk, mixinf well, and then add that mixture to your hot butter and mix well. Add the rest of the milk and heat gently, stirring all the time, until it thickens. Then let it simmer for about a minute or your sauce will taste floury. Add grated cheese, salt, pepper, etc to taste.

You are supposed to add the flour to the hot butter, and cook the flour in the butter, then adding the liquids. This is what they call making a roux --- it avoids any floury flavour in the finished sauce.

Many sauce disasters can be saved with a whisk, or, if it is bad enough, a sieve!

PS... search the net for a recipe for veggie lassagne; it certainly exists!

machadinha · Aug 24th, 2008, 18:27

Yes, I was gonna say, veggie lasagne isn't hard to make. Recipe will follow later

ps Nice job on the home-made pasta, Khandoma. I've done it just once (not lasagne, and using a pasta machine indeed -- that's a good old manual tool btw, nothing electronic about it) -- lots of work, fun though if you have the time (and room, to hang it out! A washing rack, what's the English phrase, or several comes in handy here. Again, for spaghetti-type stuff.) Best done together with a bunch of friends at a dinner party to start in the afternoon I reckon, if you're not a traditional Italian housewife who gets up at 6 to start cooking that is.

chits007 · Aug 24th, 2008, 22:14

Thanks all you guys..

i will surely try bechamel sauce looks easy ....
Nick-H ..yes guys i do want to try my hands on "white sauce",
"mayonise" and "tartar sauce" ..will post for them later..if you guys have any suggestion please mention in other threads probably else this thread goes haywire....

Currently i am unable to make pasta very well because of that white sauce stuff..i see in some indian marriage that pasta counter guys cooks some great pasta its all white and taste tangy of cheese...

nayan · Aug 24th, 2008, 22:27

Chits
You can buy Barilla lasagna sheets from any Food bazaar or similar supermarket outlet.

federica · Aug 25th, 2008, 02:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick-H

Melt some butter in a pan, you can lightly fry some onion in it, but then, of course, your sauce will have onion lumps in it.

Take a couple of teaspoons cornflower, or any very fine flour may do (it takes expiriment to see) and mix with just a little milk to form a smooth paste. add a little more milk, mixinf well, and then add that mixture to your hot butter and mix well. Add the rest of the milk and heat gently, stirring all the time, until it thickens. Then let it simmer for about a minute or your sauce will taste floury. Add grated cheese, salt, pepper, etc to taste.

You are supposed to add the flour to the hot butter, and cook the flour in the butter, then adding the liquids. This is what they call making a roux --- it avoids any floury flavour in the finished sauce.

I make bechamel sauce in the same way (got it from a lasagna recipe), without cheese and onions. Between every layer of pasta, I put meat or vegetable sauce, bechamel sauce and grated cheese, then next layer pasta and so on. Finish with cheese on top.

I always take Emmental cheese or Gouda or something similar, it works perfect.

I've never made lasagne with fresh pasta, so no experience, but I guess it should work in the microwave, too. When you have dried pasta, you have to precook it for a microwave lasagne. In an oven, there is no need of precooking the noodles.

Nick-H · Aug 25th, 2008, 03:27

I don't advise microwaving it!

Microwaves don't seem to pass through lassagne: I've had thi sexperience in cafes many times, having to send it back burning hot on top and stone cold from 1/4 inch in.

This is , of course, when they are reheating portions, but I imagine it would be worse from scratch.

Oh... you precook the lasagne! I'd recommend piercing it in lots of places with a fork to let the microwaves through (discovered by research in one of those cafes!).

Aug 23rd, 2008, 15:31	#1
chits007 Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 573	Anyone on how to Lasagna in Indian homes? Guys any idea by which we can make easily..i guess lasagna sheets not easily available ? can we make them @ home ?

Aug 23rd, 2008, 15:42	#3
machadinha brother my cup is empty member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: yörp Posts: 14,373	I'm sure there would be Italian cookbooks on sale in Delhi, or there are many many websites devoted to cooking that should help you along. __________________ Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links

Aug 24th, 2008, 13:56	#4
Khandoma Gourmet Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paris Posts: 369	Lasagna dough, in terms of "various machines", requires but a rolling pin, a knife, and plenty of time and energy. Here's my recipe. Ingredients : 500 g of white sifted wheat flour 5 eggs 1 small glass of water (room temperature) 2 Pinches of salt Step 1 : In a large, possibly earthenware, bowl, pour the flour and shape it into a well. Break the eggs into the well. Add the water and salt. Work the dough pushing the flour bit by bit into the egg-water mix. Stop as soon as the mix is complete : the dough should be soft and supple. Wrap into a kitchen towel and let sit (not in fridge) for 30 mn. Step 2 : With a knife, cut your dough into 4 or 5 parts. With a rolling pin, on a workplace sprinkled with flour, roll each ball of dough into a very thin sheet. Let each sheet dry in the open for 15 mn, do not touch it in the meantime. Step 3 : With a knife, cut your sheets into the final strips of pasta, to the size of your cooking dish. I recommend that you pre-cook your strips in the oven before garnishing them with meat and bechamel sauce. Hope this helps. Chits007, if you make this in India, let me know what you garnish it with, I'm curious. Bon appétit ! __________________ Hungry ? Please visit the Image Gallery of my new book, Bon Appétit Mr. Bond !, on 007 and food.

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Aug 23rd, 2008, 15:37	#2
Nick-H This is just a cameo appearance Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Chennai, India Posts: 36,189	I noticed quite a good selection of pasta in a local Nuts'n'Spices the other day. Not sure, but it might have included lasagne. If Chennai has it, I'm sure you're part of the world will! A purist, of course, would make all their own pasta at home, but it requires a specific kind of wheat flower, and then there are various machines for rolling, cutting and producing the different shapes. Lasagne is a dish that needs to be baked, so it is not going to be possible in Indian homes generally, for lack of an oven, but you should be able to cook it in your convection oven.

Aug 24th, 2008, 15:05	#7
Nick-H This is just a cameo appearance Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Chennai, India Posts: 36,189	Beef, contrary to popular opinion, is not so hard to find in India! It is certainly more common than ovens!

Aug 24th, 2008, 16:54	#8
chits007 Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 573	Thanks Khandoma ..I will try to make some Sunday...lasagna sheets looks easy to make .. being a hindu I will use chicken (no beek/ham etc) the kind of cheese u are mentioning may be difficult to find in the supermarket here...will use feta/cheddar or any pizza chesse from the super market..

Aug 24th, 2008, 17:58	#9
Khandoma Gourmet Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paris Posts: 369	Hi Chits007, Yes, lasagna sheets are easy to make. It's the rest of the recipe that's tough. Apologies, I didn't know you were a hindu. Chicken will need to be well-seasoned before you cook it. Whatever you do, do not use feta ! Feta will not melt well. Mozzarella (pizza cheese) will cook too fast for the pasta. Cheddar, well, it's an option, I guess. Taste on the strong side, but since you're using chicken it'll balance well, and melt well too. Parmigiano cheese, the best for this recipe, is sometimes sold under the names "Parmesan", "Parmigiano Regianno" (yummy), "Grana Padano" (not the real thing but close enough for a sauce). All this is rather more expensive than cheddar or pizza cheese. Do I understand that you're skipping the bechamel sauce part altogether ? If you just add your cheese to the meat, the cheese will overcook, the meat will dry up and the mixture will not be mellow in your mouth. If the cheese does not overcook, then the dough is still raw. If you want a simple option, I'm comfident you can find pre-mixed bechamel sauce in bottles, cans or even powder, at the same supermarket where you get your cheese. (Mom, if you read this, it's my evil twin writing.) Prepare the sauce according to directions on the box, then pour into a small saucepan and add 100 grams of emmental / gruyere cheese, (or cheddar), or half of this and half mozzarella, in small cubes or grated, over low fire. Add a good pinch of grated nutmeg. Then pour some sauce over each layer of pasta + meat. Top your lasagna with sauce, then sprinkle cheese. Use only the convection mode of your oven. Preheat very hot. Let us know how it went !

Aug 24th, 2008, 18:12	#10
Nick-H This is just a cameo appearance Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Chennai, India Posts: 36,189	Whilst it may be difficult to make sauces in the proper way, that a chef would approve, a simple white sauce is very easy, and a cheese sauce is just a white sauce with cheese added! This is the idiot's white sauce, one of the first things I ever learnt to cook: Melt some butter in a pan, you can lightly fry some onion in it, but then, of course, your sauce will have onion lumps in it. Take a couple of teaspoons cornflower, or any very fine flour may do (it takes expiriment to see) and mix with just a little milk to form a smooth paste. add a little more milk, mixinf well, and then add that mixture to your hot butter and mix well. Add the rest of the milk and heat gently, stirring all the time, until it thickens. Then let it simmer for about a minute or your sauce will taste floury. Add grated cheese, salt, pepper, etc to taste. You are supposed to add the flour to the hot butter, and cook the flour in the butter, then adding the liquids. This is what they call making a roux --- it avoids any floury flavour in the finished sauce. Many sauce disasters can be saved with a whisk, or, if it is bad enough, a sieve! PS... search the net for a recipe for veggie lassagne; it certainly exists!

Aug 24th, 2008, 18:27	#11
machadinha brother my cup is empty member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: yörp Posts: 14,373	Yes, I was gonna say, veggie lasagne isn't hard to make. Recipe will follow later ps Nice job on the home-made pasta, Khandoma. I've done it just once (not lasagne, and using a pasta machine indeed -- that's a good old manual tool btw, nothing electronic about it) -- lots of work, fun though if you have the time (and room, to hang it out! A washing rack, what's the English phrase, or several comes in handy here. Again, for spaghetti-type stuff.) Best done together with a bunch of friends at a dinner party to start in the afternoon I reckon, if you're not a traditional Italian housewife who gets up at 6 to start cooking that is.

Aug 24th, 2008, 22:14	#12
chits007 Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 573	Thanks all you guys.. i will surely try bechamel sauce looks easy .... Nick-H ..yes guys i do want to try my hands on "white sauce", "mayonise" and "tartar sauce" ..will post for them later..if you guys have any suggestion please mention in other threads probably else this thread goes haywire.... Currently i am unable to make pasta very well because of that white sauce stuff..i see in some indian marriage that pasta counter guys cooks some great pasta its all white and taste tangy of cheese...

Aug 24th, 2008, 22:27	#13
nayan Forum Leader Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: hyderabad/tokyo Posts: 1,930	Chits You can buy Barilla lasagna sheets from any Food bazaar or similar supermarket outlet.

Aug 25th, 2008, 03:27	#15
Nick-H This is just a cameo appearance Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Chennai, India Posts: 36,189	I don't advise microwaving it! Microwaves don't seem to pass through lassagne: I've had thi sexperience in cafes many times, having to send it back burning hot on top and stone cold from 1/4 inch in. This is , of course, when they are reheating portions, but I imagine it would be worse from scratch. Oh... you precook the lasagne! I'd recommend piercing it in lots of places with a fork to let the microwaves through (discovered by research in one of those cafes!).