I love lasagna. But baking one in Bangkok poses quite a challenge. Ricotta cheese, a main ingredient, is quite expensive. I wondered, Is there a lasagna recipe that doesn’t need ricotta cheese? Well, I found one on food.com! It called for a pound and a half of fet mot (Thai for fresh mozzarella) cheese and NO ricotta.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 large chopped onion
- 1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage or 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef or 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons salt
- pepper to taste
- 1 (12 ounce) cans tomato paste
- 1 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 3 cups hot water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano or 1 1/2 teaspoons other Italian spices
- 1/2 lb cooked and drained lasagna noodles (I substituted no-cook lasagna noodles)
- 1 1/2 lbs sliced mozzarella cheese (I used grated)
Directions
- Pre-heat oven 350˚F.
- I used chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes and processed in 6 one- second pulses in a food processor. Do this in three batches.
- Fry garlic and onion in hot oil until soft.
- Add meat and cook until crumbly. Drain oil. I had no oil to drain because I used chicken.
- Mix in salt, pepper, spices, tomato sauce, tomato paste and water.
- Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Simmer 30 minutes for ground chicken.
- In a shallow 9×13 inch pyrex dish, put a thin layer of sauce.
- I used no-cook lasagna noodles. Layer half the noodles, then sauce, and top with half the cheese.
- Repeat layers ending with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Cut into squares.
