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Danny Shea asked about a pasta substitute for lasagna.  I use rice paper in
place of regular lasagna noodles.  These are thin sheets of rice paper which
come in full circles or quarter circles from the asian food market.  They
are fairly fragile when dry and they crack easily.  I use two or three
layers of rice paper in place of a lasagna noodle.  You use them dry, crack
them to fit the shape of the pan, use whatever other layers you like,  cover
the entire thing with foil and bake an hour or less to heat through -
presto, a nice lasagna substitute.  The rice paper doesn't have much flavor
of its own, but does hold  its shape and doesn't turn to mush.
 
I also use this rice paper as a wrapper for leftovers.  Wet a single sheet
of the rice paper in a dish of water to soften (just a few seconds), lay on
a flat surface, add leftovers or whatever you want, roll up and then
microwave to heat. You can eat this in one or two bites, sort of like an egg
roll that's not fried.  In fact, we like fried rice inside.  My local Thai
restaurant serves something like this cold with large shrimp, rice noodles
and cilantro inside as an appetizer.  I usually order this for lunch all by
itself.  They also put a spicy meat filling in and then deep fry it.  This
is absolutely fabulous, but fattening.
 
By the way, has anyone ever made fufu which is an African dish?
 
Ellen Switkes
Oakland, California