Lasagne

Last night our daughter was in a mood to cook, especially since she had just finished a tiring Chemistry test. It reminded me of my own cooking experiments when I was her age. I started off with noodles and it was my Father who had to bear the brunt! Having grown up in a tea estate, I had the opportunity to see many cooks in action and was able to pick up some valuable tips. We had one from Tamilnadu who was an expert in Dosa and that is when I fell in love with Rava Dosa. It is from him I learnt how to make paper thin dosas and still do at home.

Anyway, after reading many recipes daughter told me that she is going to follow her own method! Like a seasoned cook did she tell me that! But with minimum or no help from me she did manage our dinner yesterday.

Lasagne

Ingredients

1. Lasagne sheets - 10-12
2. Chicken breast cubed - 1 no
3. Chopped red capsicum - 1 no
4. Butter - 2 Tbspn
5. Knorr bechamel mix - 1 packet
6. Pepper and salt - to taste
7. Milk - 1 or 2 cups
8. Shredded Mozarella Cheese - as needed
9. Olive oil - 1 tbspn
10. Pizza sauce - enough to layer

Method

Boil the lasagne sheets as per instruction and run cold water over to cool it. Separate them and place them on a plate. Saute the capsicum in butter and pour the bechamel mix that has been mixed well in milk. Let it simmer and thicken. Take the baking dish and spread the bechamel mix and top it with a layer of lasagne sheets. Spread a layer of pizza sauce. Repeat this until you have exhausted the sheets and the bechamel mix. You can also sprinkle the cheese if you care to. Top it with a final layer of lasagne sheets, sprinkle some cheese and drizzle some olive oil. Cover it with a tin foil and bake it for 25 minutes at 170 degrees. Remove the tin foil and bake it further until the top is browned a little. Take it out and let it cool before you dig in.

Tinned Tuna Tarts / Puffs

Finally I tried my hands in Puff making and succeeded! Of course the pastry was readymade and so the credit does not go entirely to me. I had picked up the frozen puff pastry from the supermarket hoping to make something out of it. It sat in the freezer for a while until I realized that it cannot be. I had some left over cutlet mix and stuffed the puffs with the same. I baked a few and fried a few and realized that frying it was silly :)  The next time I made a mix with tinned tuna and even this came out well. I made it in the form of tarts as well as shapes that I could conjure. 

Tinned Tuna Tarts / Puffs

Ingredients

1. 160gm tin white tuna - 2 nos
2. Chopped ginger - 1 tbspn
3. Boiled potato - 1 medium
4. Mix of herbs- 1/2 tspn each ( I used dried dill leaves, dried rosemary, kasuri methi)
5. Garam Masala and pepper powder - 1 tspn each
6. Cream Cheese - 1 Tbsn (optional)
7. Peas - 1/4 cup

Method

Stir the drained tuna, peas and ginger in a non stick pan until any water in it runs dry. Add the powders and mashed potato. Mix well. Turn off the heat and add cream cheese. Mix it again. Spread the mix onto the pastry if you are making tarts and top it with shredded cheese. (Used mozzarella). If you are making puffs, fill the centre with the mix and fold the pastry. Once it is baked it will form shapes. 

Peanut Cookies

This is an easy Cookie recipe which was voted very good by my colleagues. The recipe asked for butter or vegetable oil and I substituted it for the healthy coconut oil!

Peanut Cookies

Ingredients

1. Roasted peanuts, broken - 1/2 cup
2. All-purpose flour - 1-1/4 cups
3. Salt - 1/4 tspn
4. Coconut Oil - 2 Tbspn
5. Baking powder - 1/2 tspn
6. Egg - 1 
7. Brown sugar (I used Jaggery) - 1/2 cup (add more if you want it sweeter)

Waiting to enter the oven..

Out from the oven..please forgive the shape :)

Method

Beat egg and sugar well in one dish. Meanwhile mix the flour and baking soda in another dish and add the peanuts. Pour in the beaten egg and sugar and mix well. Add the Coconut oil until you feel it is enough to cut into cookies. Bake at 180 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until you see them browned.