Category: Non vegetarian

For meat sauce

• Minced beef – 500 gms
• Olive oil –  1 tbsp
• White Onion – 1, medium, chopped
• Garlic – 3-4 cloves
• Pasta/ spaghetti sauce -400 ml
• Dried basil – a pinch – to taste
• Salt – a pinch – to taste
• Crushed pepper – ½ tsp
• Water – ¼ cup

Lasagna noodles

• Lasagna sheets – 8-10 sheets
• OR Pasta of your choice
• Water – enough to cover the pasta / noodles
• Salt – a pinch, to taste

For white sauce/béchamel sauce

• Butter -3 tbsp
• All-purpose flour -3 tbsp
• Milk (full fat/low fat) – 1 cup
• Mozzarella cheese – ¼ cup

For baking

• Mozzarella cheese – ¼ cup
• Parmesan cheese – 2 tbsp
• Butter spray or just 1 tsp of butter for buttering the pan

For the meat sauce:

• Heat olive oil in a wok, and stir the minced beef, till it turns light brown.
• Stir in, the chopped onions and garlic with salt and crushed pepper, and cook till the onion is tender.
• Transfer the spaghetti/ pasta sauce to the meat, empty the sauce bottle using the water reserved for the same.
• Season it with some dry basil or any preferred Italian dried herbs.
• Cover the pan and simmer for another 15 minutes.
• Turn off the fire and set it aside till it cools.

For the noodles/pasta

• Boil enough water in a pressure cooker, and season it with salt and 1 tsp of oil of your preference.
• Transfer the noodles/pasta to the cooker and close the lid with the nozzle and wait for 1 whistle to go on high flame.
• Turn off the fire and let the pressure go off under running cold water and open the cooker and drain the pasta/ noodles.
• The noodles need to be cooked, only till 75%.

For the white sauce

• Cook the lasagna sheets/noodles/pasta only till 75% because, while baking the pasta gets cooked further, which might turn them mushy.
• Original Lasagna calls for lasagna sheets, it’s just my version that can go for other pastas too as I like it that way.
• The variety of Italian herbs can be adjusted according to your taste.