Myself and my husband Garith have decided to give banting a go this year. There has been a lot of media coverage around this lifestyle and it’s benefits…so my thinking is I’m young so if not why not. At this stage, it can’t make things worse! hehe! So because of this, I have been looking for delicious recipes to try out, and I came across this one for lasagne from Auntie Banting. I did have to change it slightly to suit my palate as I like food with a lot of flavour.
Tips:
- You can use zucchini/baby marrow instead of eggplant, however the process is slightly different. You do not need to pan fry them, just place your cut zucchini on paper towel and salt them. And follow the rest of the recipe
- You can add/substitute herbs and spices as you like. I like a mild curry flavour in mine, that’s why I used all those spices but if that is not your kinda thing then change it up!
- Also you can add more mushrooms, spinach, etc depending on what you like
- The one thing you need to keep in mind, is this is a time consuming dish, especially with all the prep that is required. So make sure you are not starving when you start making it
- It can easily serve 4 – 6 depending what else you are serving with the lasagne
Eggplant lasagne
Ingredients
- Medium eggplant
- 2 cups mushrooms, chopped
- 1 - 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 onion, chopped
- 500g mince
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 red pepper, chopped
- 1 tsp Basil
- 1 tsp Oregano
- 1 tsp Thyme
- 1 tsp ground corriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp Cape Malay curry mix (I used the one from Woolworths)
- 2 - 3 tsp tomato paste
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- Olive oil, for frying
- 300g Ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 70ml cream
- tbsp parsley
- tbsp Parmesan
- 1 cup Mozzarella, grated
- 1 wheel feta
White Sauce
Topping
Method
- Cut the eggplant into either long thin strips or even circles. Then pan fry the slices in a little bit of olive oil in a pan on a medium heat until brown. Once brown, remove and set aside. *Keep in mind that eggplant absorbs oil so maybe try brushing the olive oil onto the eggplant.
- Fry the mushrooms and chopped spinach for 3 - 5 min or until almost cooked and then set aside.
- Brown the onions until golden, then add garlic, mince, salt & pepper and fry until almost cooked. Once almost cooked, add chopped tomatoes, red pepper and basil. Stir and let it cook for approx.10 min.
- Add mushrooms, spinach, spices and tomato paste to your mince and stir until combined. Simmer for 5 min then remove from the heat.
- Preheat the oven at 180°C.
- Combine all the items for the white sauce, give it a good mix.
- While the oven is heating up start to construct the lasagne in a deep pyrex dish. Start with a layer of mince, then white sauce and finally eggplant. REPEAT mince, white sauce and eggplant. Keep a little white sauce to put over your last layer of eggplant. Then sprinkle the Parmesan over the top, followed by the mozzarella and finally crumble the feta over the top.
- Bake for 30 min at 180 degrees
- Remove and let the lasagne cool slightly before serving.
Eggplant Lasagne, which is banting friendly
