Stove-Top Casserole

Casserole is a very American thing.  What it is, essentially, is a chunky soup, thickened more than a soup would be, and containing pasta or bread cubes or both as an added filler.  Casseroles are baked in the oven, and often have a garnish on top such as melted cheese or spicy sprinkles.  They are often served as a one-pot-meal in American households, or accompanied by a salad.  I have a lot of friends in India, and in India, ovens are rare.  So I sometimes make up recipes that my Indian friends can use, thus this recipe came about.  It is a casserole, but it's made on top of the stove instead of in the oven.

This version of stove-top casserole is made with whey.  Looks like a Chinese stir-fry, doesn't it?

Ingredients for the casserole:

12 c mixed vegetables of your choice.  For example, the casserole in the above photo contains:
    4 c potatoes, peeled and cubed (bite-size)
    1 c carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally (1/4" slices)
    1 c chopped bell pepper (bite-size)
    6 c broccoli pieces (approx. 1 1/4" florets, stems 1/2" pieces)
    1 1/2 c whole black olives (opt.)
4 c paneer chunks (from about one gallon whole milk)
1 lb pasta of your choice

Ingredients for the white sauce:

1/4 c unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
Rounded 1/4 t hing
Rounded 1/2 t black pepper
Rounded 1/2 t ground mustard
Rounded 1/2 t methi (fenugreek) powder
Rounded 1/2 t turmeric
1/2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
8 c milk or whey, or 5 c cream
Slightly rounded 1 T salt (if using whey for the white sauce, increase salt to 4 level tsp)

First, heat ghee in wok on a low flame.  When just barely hot (definitely not smoking!), gently place the paneer chunks into the ghee.  Allow them to fry for a minute or two before you turn them with a slotted spoon.  Turn them frequently until they have reddish golden brown edges, but are still light-colored.

Paneer chunks should look like this when done

Drip the excess ghee from the fried paneer chunks and set them aside in a bowl.

Next, turn up the heat and fry your potato cubes.

See how the potatoes that are still in the ghee are floating on top?

Potatoes are done when they turn golden-brown and float on the surface of the ghee.  Remove, drain, and set aside.

Now fry your carrot pieces.  Turn down the heat to medium, and gently lower the carrot slices into the hot ghee.  Turn once during cooking, so that they are evenly browned on both sides. 

Carrot slices frying in ghee

When the carrots are fork-tender, remove, drain and set them aside.

While keeping the heat at medium, fry your bell pepper pieces.  They will look like this in the ghee.

Bell peppers frying in ghee

When the bell peppers are done, they will look like this:

Fried bell peppers

Drain and set the fried bell peppers aside.

Steam the broccoli in a pot with a steamer basket until just soft enough to poke a knife through easily, but while the broccoli is still a pretty green color.  Don't let them get too soft or they will not keep their shape when you stir them into the casserole.

The broccoli should be bright green and just barely tender

Now start the water boiling for your pasta.  While the water is heating up...

...make your white sauce.  Start by melting the butter on low heat in a large pot.  The pot should have a capacity slightly larger than one gallon.  As the butter is melting, add the spices except for the salt and stir while warming the spices in the melted butter.  If you are making the low-fat version* of this recipe, now is the time to add the bell peppers, sauteeing them in the butter and spices until they are soft (cover pot between stirs).  After the bell peppers are fork-tender, add the flour.  Stir thoroughly, then start adding the liquid, small amounts at a time.

Here I'm making my white sauce with whey

Here's what the white sauce looks like if you're making it with cream...

White sauce is also called "Cream Sauce"--this is authentic cream sauce, because it's made with cream!

Keep an eye on the water for boiling the pasta.  As soon as it starts boiling, add the pasta.  Put on the timer so you can cook it the right amount of time, to "al dente."  Have a colander waiting in the sink for draining the cooked pasta.  

After you have added all the liquid to your white sauce, stir constantly on medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil.  Boil for two minutes, then stir in the paneer chunks and the cooked vegetables.

Stir in the paneer...and...

...the veggies

As soon as the timer rings, drain the pasta through a colander, rinse it, shake out the excess water, and add the drained pasta to the white sauce.  Stir gently and thoroughly.  Turn off the heat.  Now you can stir in the salt.**  Remember, if you have used milk or cream for your sauce, the salt will be a lesser amount than if you used whey.  That's because whey is slightly sour, and therefore requires a teeny bit more salt.

Here's the finished casserole when I used cream in the sauce

Here's the finished casserole when I used whey in the sauce

Yield: this makes about a gallon of casserole.  Preparation and cooking time: about two hours from start to finish.

*Note: although when I have ghee available I deep-fry the vegetables and paneer in the wok, if deep-frying is not an option for you, or you just want a low-fat dish, you can steam all the veggies except the bell peppers (fry the bell peppers in the butter and spices until they're soft) and just add the paneer to the white sauce without pre-frying it.

**Note: when using whey, you can add the salt earlier if you like.  When I make this casserole with whey, I add the salt just after the white sauce is completed.  Be aware that when you make the white sauce with whey, the casserole will be a rather soupy consistency at first, but will thicken gradually.

When I make white sauce with milk or cream, the reason I add salt after turning off the heat is because Srila Prabhupada told us that to cook salt with milk causes a poisonous chemical reaction.  But to cook salt with whey is okay.