Perfected Concoctions – Flavours 101: Vegetable Au gratin

I love Cooku with Comali. If you are also like me, you would have seen this dish in the show. I was so eager to know what the dish exactly is and tried doing it by reading many recipes.

I tried and tested and it was yummy. So here comes my version of the recipe. This might be the easiest procedure you could ever come across.

Servings -3

Ingredients for the base

Carrots -2 , Peas-1/2 cup , Sweetcorn -1/2 cup , Capsicum -2 , Potatoes-2 , Salt ½ tbsp , Cheese of your choice 100 grams

Ingredients for the white sauce

Maida- 1 heaped tbsp , Milk- 2 cups, Butter or olive oil- 2 tbsp ,Cheese of your choice 1 heaped tbsp, Italian spices- 1 tsp, Red chilli flakes- 2 tsp

Step by step with pictures.

Dice the vegetables in your preferred size. Make sure all the ingredients are of more or less in the same size.

• Boil the vegetables with salt till they are soft and tender.
• In a sauce pan, add butter or olive oil, season the butter or oil with Italian herbs and red chilli flakes and then drop the maida in.
• Make sure there are no lumps and then add the milk little by little and allow it to boil and thicken.

• Once it is reduced, add the cheese and whisk it right away.
• You will get a gooey and flowing white sauce.
• Add the vegetables in your vessel and layer it with the white sauce.

• You can mix it well and add generous amount of cheese to cover the layer.

• Preheat the oven at 200C and place the vessel for 20 minutes till the cheese is all melted you should get some brown spots.

Serve it hot.

Tips

1. You can add any vegetables of your choice.
2. I added Mozzarella. You can add cheddar or cheese slices as well.
3. First, I baked it for 10 mins but I found it little undone. So check it after 10 minutes and keep it again if you didn’t get the brown spots.
4. You can add pepper too to your white sauce and balance the red chilli flakes.
5. I added olive oil for my white sauce instead of butter. You can use whichever you like.
6. Since cheese is quite salty, I didn’t add salt, so check before you keep it for baking and add if you need it.