Mexican Lasagne

In addition to shower curtains and certain lady products, one thing you won't find in some parts of Asia is an oven. I didn't know how much I missed having an oven until it became apparent how many dishes I was unable to make: cookies, muffins, roasted vegetables, roast chicken, cannelloni, pizza, and anything else with brown, bubbling cheese. During my last trip to Thailand, I decided to spend the equivalent of $25 or so to have a toaster oven. It was a fantastic investment, breaking up the monotony of rice or noodles, and allowing some Western comforts.

One dish that satisfies several comfort food cravings at once is Mexican lasagne. I am so lucky in that I have a couple of friends in Iowa who were willing and able to send me things that I couldn't find in even the best stocked foreign goods stores. Over the years, they sent me a tortilla press and masa flour, several bags of dried chipotles, Tapatio hot sauce, and other treats including Nerds and giant dill pickles.

Kidney beans, vegetables, and even cheese were easy enough to find in Songkhla, Thailand so with a bag of corn tortillas and dried chipotles, I was able to make a spicy, cheesy, yummy trip.

round pan batch

Sauce: In a pot, I boiled tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, dried cumin, salt and pepper. I used a potato masher to get into a smoother consistency.

square pan batch

Assembly:
I used cake tins to do all my baking because I couldn't find any casserole dishes anywhere. On the bottom, I ladled some sauce, followed by overlapping tortillas, beans, chopped carrots and spinach, feta cheese. Layers are repeated and the whole lot is topped with sauced and grated cheddar. I baked it in the oven for 30 minutes or so. After resting, cut into squares and serve with expensive avocados sold at Carrefour, an hour away by bus.

this one was made in China with flour tortillas