Given a choice, I would order Italian food every other day – I just simply love it, although I am a bit nervous about the amount of cheese that is used in some of the Italian dishes! Contrary to the common perception, preparation of Italian dishes vary depending upon the region (which, I guess is true in case of every food) and I understand that in some parts of Italy, believe it or not, some of the traditional pizzas are made without cheese! (hard to believe since I always thought we eat Italian because of it’s this very delicious content!).

Because of its popularity globally, Italian food is widely modified to suite the taste buds of the people depending upon the region they belong to and I am also going to do just that, i.e., imitate a very famous Italian dish (and my favourite too), Vegetable Cannelloni, to suit Indian taste buds, who are known for eating spicy food! 

Cannelloni are tube-shaped type of pasta which are large in size, (unlike the penne) approximately 4 inches long and about 1 inch wide, cut open on both ends with a smooth surface. These are generally stuffed with spinach and ricotta or minced beef and covered with tomato and béchamel sauce at the top. But I am going to play around a bit with the stuffing and the sauces and come out with a ‘my version’ (or should I call it Indianised?) of Vegetable Cannelloni!

Ingredients:

• 1 Packet cannelloni pasta (20 pieces)
• 50 gms parmesan cheese
• 250 gms mozzarella cheese
• 3 small peppers (different colors ) chopped (in size of approx. 1 square cm)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• For preparing white sauce (Béchamel Sauce)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ cups of hot milk
• ½  tsp white pepper powder
• ½ tsp nutmeg powder
• 1 small tin cream cheese
• Salt
• For preparing tomato sauce
  • 1 cup fresh tomato paste
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp red chili powder
  • 1 tsp Italian mixed dried herbs
  • Salt
• For preparing stuffing
  • 250 gms  grated cottage cheese
  • 6 mushrooms (big ones)
  • 1 carrot (big size) – grated
  • 1 onion (medium size) – finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ cup bread crumbs
  • Salt
• For preparing spinach layer
  • 1 bunch of Spinach
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic
  • ½ tsp pepper powder
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • Salt

Directions:

First let’s make the white sauce. For that, take butter in a pan, heat it and once it melts add the all-purpose flour and keep stirring. Once the raw smell of the flour disappears (approx. 3 to 4 min minutes of cooking on low flame), add hot milk and heat it till it starts boiling. It is important to continue to stir the sauce while it is being made to avoid formation of lumps. When it starts boiling, add a small tin of cooking cream cheese (this will give a rich creamy- cheese texture to the sauce), white pepper powder, salt and nutmeg powder and the white sauce is ready.

We also need some tomato sauce for which take the fresh tomato paste in a pan, add coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix it well and cook for about 3 minutes. Once cooked, add the Italian mixed dried herbs and the tomato sauce is also ready.

Now, let’s make the stuffing ready. For that, take olive oil in a pan, heat it and once it is hot, add chopped onion and sauté. Once the chopped onion becomes soft, add mushroom and grated carrot and cook for about 3 minutes. Then add cottage cheese, pepper and salt and stir well. Keep it aside to cool down. Once it cools, add 4 tbsp of white sauce, 2 tbsp of tomato sauce and the breadcrumbs to it and mix well. The stuffing is now ready. Fill it in the cannelloni tubes and keep them aside.

Next step is to prepare the spinach layer to be put on the cannelloni while banking.  For that take the olive oil in pan and heat it. Once it is hot, add crushed garlic and sauté till the garlic becomes light brown. Now take the spinach (make sure they are washed and cleaned), tear them roughly by hand and add them in the pan with the sautéed garlic and stir it. Add pepper powder and salt to taste and cook it for approx. 2 minutes. Make sure it is not overcooked; otherwise, water will start leaving the spinach. Once it cools, chop the preparation roughly again to avoid long pieces of spinach. This helps to spread the preparation on the cannelloni later on.  

Now it’s the time to bake. Preheat the oven at 190°C.  Take a rectangular shape baking dish (which is big enough to take all the contents that we have so far prepared) and spread some white sauce as the first layer in the baking dish. Then spread the tomato sauce on top of that as the second layer and on top of that red sauce layer spread the chopped spinach layer already prepared.  Now sprinkle some powdered parmesan cheese over it. On top of this, place the filled cannelloni tubes next to each other. On top of this, now again spread the white sauce followed by red sauce and then sprinkle some parmesan cheese over it. At the top of all this, spread generously mozzarella cheese. Keep the dish in the preheated oven for 30 minutes to bake.

While the baking is in progress, take 2 tsp of olive oil in a pan and heat it and once it is hot, add chopped coloured peppers and sauté for about 2 mins & keep it aside.

Once baking is done, take the tray out & spread sautéed pepper over it and cut it and serve it hot.

Preparation for this dish is quite lengthy and hence, requires patience. But at the end of it, you will feel that it was worth the effort since it really tastes yummy!

As always, if you like it and end up making this, do email me, I would love to hear how you liked the Cannelloni Pasta modified in my way!           

Bon Appetit!