Baked Vegetables and Chicken in White Sauce

There is nothing new about this recipe. I searched for baked vegetables recipes, found numerous links on Google, read through a few of them and got a basic idea about the way things need to be. Then, I cooked it the way I wanted. Afterall, my blog is named 'i-cook-this-way'!!

Ingredients

1. Carrots- diced
2. Cauliflower-cut into medium size florets
3. Beans-cut into medium length pieces
4. Mushrooms- slit lengthwise
5. Baby Corns- slit lengthwise
6. Capsicums- cut into strips
   
7. Peas- shelled
8. Baby Potatoes- skinned, if required
9. Boneless Chicken Pieces- boiled and cut into small chunks
10. Onions- diced into four or six parts
11. Ginger -crushed/paste
12. All Purpose flour /Maida
13. Butter
    
14. Cheese -grated ( I used Amul Pizza Cheese )
    
15. Milk
    
16. Salt
17. Crushed Peppercorn

Procedure:

Prepare the vegetables and chicken:

1. Boil the potatoes, cauliflowers and beans in an open vessel for about 15-20 minutes, till tender. Don't pressure cook. You may add the peas along with these too.
2. The vegetables will be done when their rawness is gone. Drain and keep the stock aside for using later in some other recipe.
   
3. Keep the other vegetables aside. They can be added raw.
4. Pressure cook the chicken with a pinch of salt, pepper. cloves and fresh herbs like celery (optional). Cut into small boneless chunks. Reserve the stock of making delicious soups later.
   

Prepare the white sauce:

The white sauce has to be made according to the standard recipe. This time I made a bit modification.

1. Take a pan and melt some butter.
2. Add the onions and ginger paste and fry for a while. (this is my part of the modification. It adds a different taste to the white sauce )
   
3. Next, add the flour and fry till the flour turns golden on color and a nice aroma comes out.
4. Add the milk gradually and keep stirring continuously so that no lumps form and a free flowing sauce consistency is achieved.
   
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Some recipes suggests grated cheese to be added at this stage, to make the sauce more tasty. I avoided adding cheese here to cut down on calories, and use them at a later stage.

Arrange:

1. Take a deep ovenproof dish. Arrange the semi-cooked and raw vegetables and the chicken pieces in layers.
2. Sprinkle grated cheese over the vegetables and chicken.
3. Gradually pour the white sauce, so that it covers all the vegetables as much as possible.
4. Finally, top with grated cheese.

Bake:

1. Bake the arrangement in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree C for 30 minutes.
2. To get the top golden color, change oven mode to grill mode and grill for about 7-10 minutes.
   

Vegetables and chicken baked in white sauce is ready to be served now. Eat it hot either as a main dish or as an accompaniment to crisp toasts.