Each nation has its own signature dish. And among the Greeks it’s 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 taste nuances of Moussaki. For meat lovers we’ll inform you that you can add minced meat to the dish. Mushaku is always served with sauce. It can be bechamel, thick creamy gravy and even tomato dressing.
The Greek dish "Musaka" has become so popular that culinary experts borrowed its classic recipe in neighboring countries and made changes to it. So there was a musaka in Bulgarian, Dalmatian, Albanian, etc. But even in Greece itself, a casserole is cooked with variations. They relate to both a set of vegetables and the method of preparation. In this article you will find a detailed classic recipe for dishes, as well as ideas on how to diversify it.
Greek moussaka with eggplant. Ingredients
The name speaks for itself. Eggplant is an integral part of Greek Moussaka. The dish itself appeared relatively recently: the first recipe was published in 1910 in the cookbook of Nicolas Celementes. In fact, he came to Greece during the Ottoman Empire from Turkey.
But the Turkish Moussaka is not a masterpiece of cookery art - it is prepared from lamb with the addition of eggplant, tomatoes and spices. And what ingredients are needed for moussaka in Greek? The same set of products (two eggplants and tomatoes, a pound of lamb mince), 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 musaka is cooked only in olive oil. And watered - if you want to achieve complete authenticity - with a sauce made on the basis of Greek yogurt.
Vegetable preparation
Not a single Moussaka recipe can do without eggplant. We select two young fruits in which seeds have not yet ripened. Since we will form layers of eggplant, we try to make their shape and size approximately the same. My blue ones and cut off the stem. In a traditional dish, the peel is not removed: well-baked, it becomes completely edible. We cut both eggplants with longitudinal slices 0.5 - 1 centimeter thick. Put the pieces in a bowl, salt, cover with a plate and leave for 20 minutes. During this time, the eggplant will release bitter juice. We merge it, wash the slices and dry. Eggplant can be cooked in three ways: in the oven, in a pan and on the grill. The last trick in a city apartment is difficult to implement, so we do this: grease the eggplant slices on both sides with olive oil and bake in the oven. Or fry in a small amount of oil. Eggplants have the ability to absorb oil, so after frying they need to be thrown back on paper towels to remove excess fat. On two large tomatoes, make a cross-shaped incision, scald with boiling water and immediately place in ice water. Remove the skin from the tomatoes, cut the flesh into pieces. We clean two onions, finely chop.
Meat preparation
There is also a vegetarian version of this dish, but since we are considering the classic recipe for moussaki with minced meat, we will pass a pound of lamb through a meat grinder. As a concession to Slavic taste, the instruction allows the use of the same amount of beef. But the moussaka with pork will come out too oily.
So, pour a little olive oil into the pan, fry the minced meat, stirring and breaking the lumps. Add tomatoes and onions. 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. Pepper does not hurt. To emphasize the Mediterranean taste of the dish, you can add three tablespoons of tomato paste or sun-dried tomatoes. Of course, do not forget to salt the minced meat. We make the fire minimal and fry until all the liquid has completely evaporated.
Yogurt sauce
In Europe outside Greece, musak is often served with creamy or milk bechamel. Sometimes the dish is seasoned with tomato sauce. In both cases, it turns out very tasty. But since we follow the classic recipe, we will prepare the sauce for moussaki based on natural Greek yogurt. This product, unlike cream, will give the gravy the right sourness, and ultimately a fat rich hearty dish will be balanced in taste. Preparing the sauce is not difficult: you need to mix a glass of natural yogurt with three eggs and 200 g of finely chopped Feta cheese.
Bechamel
Since in Europe classic moussaka is served with milk sauce, this recipe cannot be ignored. In a small stewpan, put 70 g butter and put the saucepan on the fire. When the butter has completely melted, reduce the heat to a minimum, pour 1.5 tablespoons of flour and quickly stir so that there is no lump left.
In another container we put a glass of milk to be heated. When the butter and flour reach the boil again, turn off the heat and add warm milk in a thin stream. Shuffle. After a couple of minutes, the sauce will change the consistency - it will turn from a liquid into a thick cream. Season it with nutmeg and egg yolk. 100 g of hard cheese is very finely three. A mass similar to powder is introduced into a hot sauce. Stir until a thick smooth cream is obtained. You can make more high-calorie bechamel if you take cream instead of milk.
Dish assembly
A classic Greek moussaka is being prepared in the oven, and therefore 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. Fetu knead with a fork. If we use hard cheese, rub it with large chips. Sprinkle a layer of eggplant lightly on them, distribute the layer of minced meat on top, cover it with eggplant slices, sprinkle with grated cheese again and pour the sauce. If you have a shape with a small bottom diameter, but high sides, you can divide all the components in half. Then the number of layers will be more, and the dish will be tastier. There is one rule: eggplant, cheese and sauce should always be at the top. We heat 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 option for serving moussaki
Typically, the casserole is cooled and then cut into portioned pieces. This dish is eaten cold or a little warm. But you can cook hot portioned musaka. The recipe is slightly different from the above. My eggplant, cut in half along. Gently remove the pulp. Empty eggplant boats are blanched with the addition of salted water. With the pulp, we do the same as in the previous recipe. After bitterness came out of it, cut it into small pieces and fry it with minced meat. Eggplant should be added to the meat along with onions and tomatoes. Cooking the sauce (bechamel or yogurt). We fill the boats with minced meat, laying it with a slide. Pour sauce on 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.
We use kitchen devices
In order to quickly wait for a delicious dish and spend less effort on it, we will prepare the moussaka in a slow cooker. Here is a simple recipe. We clean three eggplants, cut them with centimeter-thick washers, sprinkle with salt. When the bitter juice drains, rinse the circles, dry and roll in flour. Leave for five minutes. Pour a little olive oil into the multicooker bowl. Fry eggplant on both sides for 3 minutes. We spread it on paper napkins. Three Parmesan, parsley (3 branches) finely chopped. We turn on the "Multipovar" mode, set the timer for 20 minutes, the temperature - 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. We shift the sauce into a bowl. In its place in the bowl put the stuffing. We cook it according to the classic recipe with onions, garlic, tomatoes and spices. Now we will equally divide 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 another 15 minutes.
Musaka in Moldavian
As mentioned above, this dish is popular throughout the Mediterranean. And not only there. Let's see what metamorphoses the mushaki recipe in Greek with eggplant underwent when it became known in Moldova. Instead of lamb, they use beef. But that is not all. Eggplant in Moldova is replaced by ... pumpkin. And the casserole ingredients list also includes rice. But the dish still comes out tasty and satisfying.
So, we stew a pound of meat until cooked, and cook the rice separately in salted water. Porridge should be half-baked. Chop the meat into small pieces. Cut the onion, sauté in melted butter 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 into very thin slices, part of them are laid on the bottom of the pan, cover with a layer of minced meat with rice. So repeat twice. On top of the second layer of minced meat, spread the circles of tomatoes, pour the stew from the broth. Cover the pan and simmer until rice is cooked in the oven.
Moussaka in Romanian
Already in northern Greece, potatoes are included in the recipe for casseroles, but eggplant is not forgotten. But in Romania, the culinary experts decided to abandon them. How to cook mushaka with potatoes? The principle is the same as in the classic recipe. At least, the algorithm of actions in cooking minced meat and sauce is the same. Peel the potatoes, cut the tubers into thin slices. Fry in vegetable oil. Salt, season with spices. Lubricate the form with vegetable oil. Stack half the potatoes. On top we place all the minced meat (with onions, tomatoes and spices). Cover with the remaining potatoes. Pour over the sauce. In Romania, they prefer bechamel, in which generously pour grated cheese or feta cheese.
Musaka with zucchini
Even in Greece, eggplant is sometimes replaced with young zucchini. Zucchini is more tender and not so absorb fat, and therefore the dish itself will come out more dietary.
Musaku with young zucchini can be cooked in two types. Eggplant is still present in one of them - like 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 eggplants. How to cook such a moussaka?
Zucchini can not be soaked in salt - there is no bitterness in it, as in eggplant. Cut the zucchini with 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 becomes golden, add the stuffing. Bringing it to half-ready, put the peeled tomatoes, herbs and spices. Salt, pour wine, stew. The recipe for minced meat is not much different from the classic.
Since the zucchini after cooking becomes too soft, we introduce potatoes into the recipe - it will become the lowest layer of moussaka. Potatoes need to be fried first. 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 musaki without meat. Zucchini and pulp of bell pepper marinate in vegetable oil with spices, and then fry in a dry pan or grill. From tomatoes, small slices of bell pepper, chili, garlic, onions, basil and olive oil using a blender we prepare mashed potatoes like salsa. We lay the layers of moussaka as follows: below the zucchini, then the sauce, on top - mugs of fresh tomatoes, bell pepper, again the sauce, zucchini. Pour sauce and bake.
Some tips
Now you understand the basic principle of cooking moussaki. The recipe can be with eggplant, potatoes, zucchini, pumpkin. But each time between the layers in the casserole there is a special mincemeat with a Mediterranean tomato-garlic spirit, generously seasoned with herbs and spices. In the vegetarian version, just replace it with tomato salsa. Using a little culinary imagination, you yourself can come up with your own moussaki recipe.