Moussaka: recipe and necessary ingredients

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Every nation has its signature dish. And among the Greeks, this is moussaka. What is this dish? We can say that this is a casserole of vegetables, most often eggplant. But such a short definition does not convey all the flavor nuances of moussaka. For meat lovers, we will inform you that minced meat can be added to the dish. Moussaka is always served with sauce. It can be bechamel, thick cream sauce and even dressing with tomatoes.

The Greek dish "Moussaka" has become so popular that culinary specialists in neighboring countries have borrowed its classic recipe and made their own changes to it. This is how moussaka appeared in Bulgarian, Dalmatian, Albanian, etc. But even in Greece itself, the casserole is prepared with variations. They concern both the set of vegetables and the method of preparation. In this article you will find a detailed classic recipe for the dish, as well as ideas on how to diversify it.

Greek Moussaka with eggplant. Ingredients

The name says it all. Eggplant is an integral part of Greek moussaka. The dish itself appeared relatively recently: the first recipe was published in 1910 in a cookbook by Nicolas Celementes. In fact, he came to Greece during the Ottoman Empire from Turkey.

But Turkish moussaka is not a masterpiece of culinary art - it is made from lamb with the addition of eggplant, tomatoes and spices. What are the ingredients for Greek moussaka? The same set of products (two eggplants and tomatoes each, a pound of minced lamb), but plus an additional list. It includes: breadcrumbs, onions, tomato paste, Feta cheese, dry red wine. Special requirements are put forward for spices. Stock up on mint, oregano, lavender flowers, nutmeg, cinnamon. Real moussaka is cooked only in olive oil. And pour - if you really want to achieve complete authenticity - a sauce made on the basis of Greek yogurt.

Preparing vegetables

No moussaka recipe is complete without eggplant. We select two young fruits in which the seeds have not yet ripened. Since we will form layers from eggplants, we try to ensure that their shape and size are approximately the same. My blue ones and cut off the stem. In a traditional dish, the skin is not removed: well-baked, it becomes completely edible. We cut both eggplants into longitudinal slices with a thickness of 0.5 - 1 centimeter. Put the pieces in a bowl, s alt, cover with a plate and leave for 20 minutes. During this time, the eggplant will release bitter juice. Drain it, wash the slicesand we discuss. Eggplant can be cooked in three ways: in the oven, in a pan and on the grill. The last reception in a city apartment is difficult to implement, so we do this: we grease eggplant slices on both sides with olive oil and bake in the oven. Or fry in a little oil. Eggplant tends to absorb oil, so after frying, they need to be folded onto paper napkins to remove excess fat. On two large tomatoes we make a cruciform incision, scald with boiling water and immediately placed in ice water. Remove the skin from the tomatoes, cut the flesh into pieces. We clean two onions, finely chop them.

Meat preparation

There is also a vegetarian version of this dish, but since we are considering the classic moussaka recipe with minced meat, we will skip a pound of lamb through a meat grinder. As a concession to Slavic taste, the instructions allow the use of the same amount of beef. But moussaka with pork will come out too greasy.

So, pour a little olive oil into the pan, fry the minced meat, stirring and breaking up the lumps. Add tomatoes and onions. We mix. After seven minutes, pour 150 ml of dry red wine into the pan. When the liquid evaporates a little, add spices: oregano, bay leaf, cinnamon, mint, lavender, nutmeg. Peppercorns won't hurt. To emphasize the Mediterranean flavor of the dish, you can add three tablespoons of tomato paste or sun-dried tomatoes. Of course, do not forget to s alt the minced meat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid is completely gone.evaporate.

Yogurt sauce

In Europe, outside of Greece, moussaka is often served with cream or milk béchamel. Sometimes the dish is seasoned with tomato sauce. In both cases, it turns out very tasty. But since we are following the classic recipe, we will prepare a moussaka sauce based on natural Greek yogurt. This product, unlike cream, will give the gravy the right sourness, and ultimately the fatty, hearty dish will be balanced in taste. To prepare the sauce is not difficult: you need to mix a glass of natural yogurt with three eggs and 200 g of finely crumbled Feta cheese.

Bechamel

Since classic moussaka is served with milk sauce in Europe, this recipe cannot be ignored. Put 70 g of butter in a small saucepan and put the saucepan on the fire. When the butter is completely melted, reduce the heat to a minimum, add 1.5 tablespoons of flour and stir quickly so that there is no lump left.

In another container, put a glass of milk to heat up. When the butter and flour come to a boil again, turn off the heat and add warm milk in a thin stream. Let's mix. After a couple of minutes, the sauce will change its consistency - it will turn from a liquid into a thick cream. Season with nutmeg and egg yolk. 100 g of hard cheese very finely three. We introduce a powder-like mass into a hot sauce. Stir until you get a thick smooth cream. You can make a more high-calorie béchamel if you use cream instead of milk.

Assembling the dish

Classic Greek moussaka is being cooked in the oven, so we need to find a heat-resistant baking dish with high sides. At the very bottom, we lay large slices of eggplant as tightly as possible to each other. Mash the feta with a fork. If using hard cheese, rub it with large chips. Lightly sprinkle a layer of eggplant on it, spread a layer of minced meat on top, cover it with eggplant slices, sprinkle with grated cheese again and pour sauce. If you have a form with a small bottom diameter, but high sides, you can divide all the components in half. Then the number of layers will be greater, and the dish will be tastier. There is one rule: eggplant, cheese and sauce should always be on top. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, cover the form with foil and bake for a quarter of an hour. After 15 minutes, remove the foil sheet and continue baking at the same temperature for another 20 minutes.

Another way to serve moussaka

Usually, the casserole is cooled and then cut into portions. This dish is eaten cold or slightly warm. But you can cook hot portioned moussaka. The recipe is slightly different from the above. Wash eggplant, cut in half lengthwise. The pulp is carefully removed. Blanch empty eggplant boats with the addition of s alted water. We proceed with the pulp in the same way as in the previous recipe. After the bitterness has come out of it, cut it into small pieces and fry together with minced meat. Eggplant should be added to meat along with onions and tomatoes. cooking sauce(bechamel or yogurt). We fill the boats with minced meat, stacking it with a slide. Pour the sauce over the top. We put the boats on a baking sheet, into which we pour a little water. Bake at 180 degrees for about half an hour.

Use kitchen gadgets

In order to quickly wait for a delicious dish and spend less effort on it, let's cook moussaka in a slow cooker. Here is a simple recipe. We clean three eggplants, cut into centimeter-thick washers, sprinkle with s alt. When the bitter juice drains, wash the circles, dry and roll in flour. We leave for five minutes. Pour a little olive oil into the multicooker bowl. Fry eggplant on both sides for 3 minutes. Lay out on paper towels. Parmesan three, parsley (3 sprigs) finely cut. We turn on the “Multi-cook” mode, set the timer for 20 minutes, the temperature is 120 degrees. Melt the butter, pour in the flour, after 10 minutes add the warmed milk in a thin stream. At the end, add grated cheese and herbs. Transfer the sauce to a bowl. In its place, place the minced meat in the bowl. We cook it according to the classic recipe with onions, garlic, tomatoes and spices. Now we will divide equally all three components of the dish (eggplant, minced meat, sauce). We begin to put the moussaka in the bowl. The layers go in this order: first vegetables, then meat, then sauce. Then again in the same sequence. We lower the lid, set the “Multi-cook” mode and the temperature to 140 degrees for half an hour. After the signal, lift the lid and cook for another 15 minutes.

Moldavian Moussaka

As mentioned above, this dish is popular all overMediterranean. And not only there. Let's see what metamorphoses the recipe for Greek moussaka with eggplant underwent when it became known in Moldova. They use beef instead of lamb. But that's not all. Eggplants in Moldova are replaced with… pumpkin. And the list of ingredients for the casserole also includes rice. But the dish still comes out tasty and satisfying.

So, stew half a kilo of meat until tender, and cook the rice separately in s alted water. The porridge should be half-baked. We chop the meat into small pieces. We cut the onion, sauté in ghee and mix with beef and rice. We take a frying pan with high sides, grease its bottom and walls with vegetable oil. We clean the pumpkin, cut it into very thin slices, put some of them on the bottom of the pan, cover with a layer of minced meat with rice on top. So we repeat twice. On top of the second layer of minced meat, lay out circles of tomatoes, pour over the broth from the stew. Cover the pan and simmer the dish until the rice is ready in the oven.

Romanian Moussaka

Already in the north of Greece, potatoes are included in the recipe for casseroles, but eggplants are also not forgotten. But in Romania, culinary specialists decided to abandon them. How to cook moussaka with potatoes? The principle is the same as in the classic recipe. At least, the algorithm of actions in the preparation of minced meat and sauce is the same. We clean the potatoes, cut the tubers into thin slices. Fry in vegetable oil. S alt, season with spices. Lubricate the form with vegetable oil. Put in half the potatoes. Place all minced meat (with onions, tomatoes and spices) on top. Cover with the remaining potatoes. Wateringsauce. In Romania, they prefer bechamel, which is generously poured with grated cheese or brynza.

Moussaka with zucchini

Even in Greece eggplant is sometimes replaced with young zucchini. Zucchini is more tender and does not absorb fat so much, and therefore the dish itself will come out more dietary.

Moussaka with young zucchini can be prepared in two ways. In one of them, eggplant is still present - as the bottom layer. Eggplant holds its shape well when cooked, the casserole does not spread and looks like a pie. In the second, zucchini completely replace eggplant. How is this moussaka prepared?

Zucchini can not be soaked in s alt - it does not have bitterness, like eggplant. Cut the zucchini into 1 cm washers and fry in vegetable oil. We remove them from the pan, and in their place we place finely chopped onions. When it turns golden, add minced meat. Bringing it to half-cooked, put the tomatoes without skins, herbs and spices. S alt, pour wine, simmer. The recipe for minced meat is not much different from the classic one.

Since the zucchini becomes too soft after cooking, we introduce potatoes into the recipe - it will become the lowest layer of moussaka. The potatoes must first be fried. Then everything is simple. Lay layers of potatoes, minced meat, zucchini, sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheese, send to bake in the oven.

Vegetarian moussaka

There is also such an interesting recipe for moussaka without meat. Marinate zucchini and pulp of bell pepper in vegetableoil with the addition of spices, and then fry in a dry frying pan or grill. From tomatoes, small pieces of bell pepper, chili, garlic, onion, basil and olive oil, using a blender, we prepare salsa-type puree. We lay the layers of moussaka as follows: zucchini on the bottom, then sauce, on top - mugs of fresh tomatoes, bell pepper, sauce again, zucchini. Drizzle with sauce and bake.

Some tips

Now you understand the basic principle of making moussaka. The recipe can be with eggplant, potatoes, zucchini, pumpkin. But each time, between the layers in the casserole, there is a special minced meat with a Mediterranean tomato-garlic spirit, generously seasoned with herbs and spices. For a vegetarian version, simply replace it with tomato salsa. With a little culinary imagination, you can come up with your own moussaka recipe.