Butter Chicken Lasagne

I often watch this Pakistani cooking channel called Masala tv. One of the shows is Lazzat with chef  Samina Jalil. Having grown up watching Hindhi movies and having lived in Karachi, Pakistan for a few years,  I can understand most of what's being said. 

So back to Samina Jalil, she made a Lasagne which she called butter chicken lasagne and instead of the meat sauce, she prepared a butter chicken sauce.

I made this using her butter chicken sauce but included a white sauce because I wanted something to balance the curry flavour of the butter chicken sauce.

To make the butter chicken sauce, saute' some onions and then add garlic, ginger and coriander leaf stems ( use the leaves to garnish later).

Then added the spices, chilli powder, turmeric, and tandoori masala. I used store-bought tandoori masala.  I found that using a whole can of tomato for this made it too tomatoey ( is that a word?) so used half of the can, crush it up in a small bowl using my fingers and then added it to onion mixture.

butter chicken sauce, ready for ladling

The leftover tomatoes I used in another recipe, so I just stored them in a clean dry glass bottle and kept them in the fridge till I needed it, usually within a week.
Back to the recipe,  so once the butter chicken sauce is cooked and prepared, I made the white sauce. ( see recipe below) 

Assembling is easy. But one thing to keep in mind is to keep the layers of sauces even. Don't go too generous with the first ladles and you might not have enough sauce at the end. So a small ladle of chicken at the bottom, then lasagne sheets, then white sauce, cheese and then chicken sauce and again lasagne and repeat till the last pasta sheet.

This can be made a few hours ahead, prepare, cover with foil and then pop in the fridge. Bake one hour before serving.

Recipe adapted from Samina Jalil's Butter chicken lasagne recipe.

Yield: 4-6

Author: Nammi

Butter chicken Lasagne

ingredients:

• 8- 10 sheets  of Lasagne 
• cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese, grated 
• Finely chopped coriander leaves ( 1 tbsp)

Chicken sauce

• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1/2 inch ginger, grated
• 3 cloves garlic, grated
• the stems of the coriander leaves, finely chopped
• 1/2 a  can of tomatoes, crushed ( store the remaining half in a clean glass jar for another recipe)
• 1 tsp ground red chilli powder
• 2 tsp tandoori masala powder ( store-bought)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tbsp plain yogurt
• 500g chicken boneless meat ( about 2 large chicken boneless breast fillets )
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil

White sauce

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 2 cups milk
• salt
• pepper

instructions:

How to cook Butter chicken Lasagne

Chicken sauce

1. Remove any bones and skin from the chicken and chop it finely.   Season with a pinch of salt.
2. Heat oil add the onions and saute till translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and coriander stems and stir fry for a few minutes. 
3. Then add the spices and tandoori masala. Stir fry to coat the onions in the spices and then add the crushed tomatoes.  
4. Stir in about 1/2 cup water and then add the chicken. Stir and let it simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes.  Remove the lid, taste adjust the salt and then stir in the yoghurt. Cook for a further 5 minutes and then switch off and let it cool. 
5. You should be left with a thick sauce. 

White sauce

1. Heat butter in a saucepan once melted remove from heat, add flour and whisk to mix with butter over low heat. 
2. Stir in milk, gradually whisking constantly.  Continue whisking till the sauce thickens and coats the back of the spoon in a thick layer. 
3. Taste and add salt and a pinch of pepper. Remove from heat.

Assembling the Lasagne

1. *Preheat the oven to 200 Degree C.
2. To assemble the lasagne. Take a square baking tin or ovenproof dish. Drizzle a little olive oil at the bottom, then spoon 2 ladles of the sauce at the bottom and spread it out.
3. Place 2 sheets of dry Lasagne sheets, Then cover the pasta with 2-3 ladles of white sauce, then over the white sauce, some grated cheese mix of cheddar and mozzarella and then the chicken sauce again and repeat with another layer of lasagne. 
4. Repeat one more time and on the final sheet of Lasagne spoon the white sauce, add cheese and sprinkle some pepper. 
5. Cover loosely with foil, pop into the oven ( middle shelf), and bake for 30 minutes covered. Then remove the lid and bake another 15 minutes till the cheese on top is melted and starting to go golden. 
6. Remove, rest for 10 minutes and sprinkle with finely chopped coriander on top and serve with a green salad.

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