Rice aubergine casserole

 A slighty time consuming recipe.. but one  that yields yummy results.

Ingredients:

• 1 C rice
• 2 bay leave
• 1 tsp shahi jeera
• 1 large brinjal/aubergine cut into 1” piece
• 1 large capsicum cut into ½ “ pieces
• Oil for frying

Red sauce

• 2 tbsp oil
• 11/2 oinion chopped finely
• 4 large tomatoes pureed
• ½ tsp red chilli pwd
• ½ tsp suage
• 11/2 tsp salt

Cheese sauce

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp maide
• 2 C milk
• 2 cheese cubes grated
• ¾  tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper

Method:

• Sprinkle 4.4 tsp salt on the brinjal pieces and leave for ½ hour ro sweat. Pat dry with a kitchen towel. Heat oil and deep fry till golden brown.
• Boil rice in 5 C water with salt, bay leaves and shahi jeera. Cook till tender. Drain excess water and keep aside to cool.
• To prepare the red sauce, heat oil, sauté chopped onions toll light brown. Add tomato puree, salt, red chilli, sugar and oregano. Cook for about 5 mins till slightly thick. Remove from heat and keep aside.
• For the cheese sauce, heat butter in a pan, add the maida and stir on low heat for  about a minute. Add milk stirring continuously till it comes to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, add seasoning and grated cheese. The sauce should be thin in consistency.
• To assemble, spread half the rice in an oven proof dish. Spread half the aubergine and capsicum on it.  Top with ½ the  red sauce and ½ the cheese sauce.
• Spread the next layer of rice. Add brinjals, capsicum, top with the two sauces.
• Cover dish with aluminium foil and bake in a preheated oven for 10 mins at 200 deg.C.
• Serve hot.(Serves 4)

Notes:   To avoid deep frying the aubergine pieces, I shallow fried them on a non stick pan.  It doesnt turn out as crisp as it would have had it been deep fried but it gets cooked just fine. The original recipe doesnt ask you to cook the capsicum pieces butI have a mortal fear of serving kachha khana,  so  I sauted the capsicum in 1/2 a tsp of oil before adding it to the dish.  This recipe made me realise one thing- white sauce and rice make a great combo! The white sauce makes the rice creamy and rich.  The texture you get is somewhat like risotto.. at least to me it tasted like risotto and because I love risotto I gave this recipe a doubel thumbs up!:D