otah lasagne

When time permits, I love to experiment with ingredients and create new dishes. Otah lasagne is what one would call "fusion food". Otah-otah is an Asian dish while lasagne is a western (Italian) dish.

Otah-otah (also known as otak-otak) is a type of fish cake. The town of Muar in Johor, Malaysia is very famous for their otah-otah. Otak-otak (鲤鱼包) is literally translated as "brain". This is because the dish is reddish in colour (due to the chilli) and the texture is soft and squishy, resembling brains. It can be eaten as a snack or with rice or bread as part of a meal.

To make otah lasagne, you can either buy ready-made frozen otah or make your own otah.

INGREDIENTS

2 pieces of otah
4 eggs
2 sticks of celery (sliced)
1/2 yellow onion (chopped)
2 pcs Chinese dried mushrooms (sliced)
salt and pepper to taste
mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 pc uncooked lasagne
bacon bits
dried parsley flakes

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Beat the otah with the eggs until well mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

3. Boil the celery, onion and dried mushrooms. Drain off the water and add to the egg mixture. Mix well.

4. Ladle some of the egg mixture onto the bottom of a dry casserole dish until the bottom is entirely covered. Sprinkle a layer of mozzarella cheese. Place the uncooked lasagne on top of the mozzarella cheese layer. Add the remaining egg mixture and top with another layer of mozzarella cheese.

5. Sprinkle some bacon bits and dried parsley flakes.

6. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 30 minutes.