What is Moussaka

When talking about Greek food, many people tend to think of Gyro first, but tend to neglect the Greek national dish itself: Moussaka.

It is a hearty eggplant-based casserole dish and is made out of three major layers:

How to make Moussaka

It may sound trivial, but making Moussaka is basically preparing all three layers and baking them in the oven😂

Fried eggplants

The first step to a good moussaka is some crispy fried or roasted eggplant slices. To make them extra yummy, I recommend letting them sweat, which means salting and letting them rest on paper towel. This will draw out any excess moisture and add additional seasoning.

After, you can either fry the slices in a pan or brush them with olive oil and bake them in the oven to save yourself some time and be able to proceed with the ragout.

A delicious ragout

When replacing minced meat (in this case: lamb or beef) in stews, I often use TVP, because it can absorb so much flavour when rehydrating in a flavoured broth and imitates the texture pretty well. That’s why I added smoked paprika to my soy mince and let it soak in vegetable broth

After you proceed as you would with a traditional ragout:

Sauté aromatics: first onion then garlic
Add tomato paste for additional umami, fry the “mince”, and deglaze with wine
Pour in tomato-based sauce (canned tomatoes and stock) and season with herbs and spices

Make sure to season with salt and fresh black pepper as you go and add more ingredients. Regularly give it a taste test and adjust it to your seasoning. If you think it’s too sour, add a little sugar to balance out the acidity.

You can keep the ragout simmering on low heat, but don’t forget to remove any whole spices and unwanted leaves, before transferring it to the casserole dish.

As this will be a layer of its own, make sure that the ragout is pretty low on liquid, so maybe start with less stock and add more, if necessary.

A classic béchamel

The last layer is a classic béchamel, created by making a roux (flour mixed with vegan butter) and step by step mixing in plant-milk to create the necessary consistency. Most of the time I go for a 2-2-3 ratio in butter (tablespoons), flour (tablespoons), and milk (100ml).

Season it with salt fresh black pepper & nutmeg, and boom: The simple guide to a béchamel. For a more nutty and cheesy flavour, I like to add some nutritional yeast, but that’s totally optional.

Layering and Baking

Alternate between layering eggplants and ragout to your casserole, of which the latter should be the last layer before adding the béchamel on top. Now just bake in the oven until the béchamel has solidified and is crispy and enjoy your dish 🙂

Moussaka

This is a vegan spin on the Greek national dish Moussaka. It is an eggplant-based casserole dish layered with fried or baked eggplants, a hearty tomato-based ragout and béchamel.

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Vorbereitungszeit 30

Zubereitungszeit 1 30

Gesamtzeit 2

Portionen: 3

Gericht: Main Course

Küche: Greek

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Zutaten

Fried Eggplant

750 g eggplant
Salt
Olive oil to fry or brush

Ragout

150 g dried soy mince
600 ml vegetable stock
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 large white onion diced
4 garlic cloves minced
2 tablespoon tomato paste
100 ml red wine (see notes 1)
1 (400g can) peeled tomatoes
3 tablespoons dried thyme
1 cinnamon stick (see notes 2)
2 bay leaves (see notes 3)

Béchamel

4 tablespoon vegan butter
4 tablespoon all-purpose flour
600 ml plant milk
Salt
Fresh black pepper
Fresh Nutmeg
2 tablespoon nutritional yeast optional, or vegan parmesan

Kochutensilien

1 Casserole Dish

Method

Prepare the eggplants

Cut the eggplant into 1cm thick slices (either direction, what fits best into your casserole dish) and place them on papertowel. Salt both sides and let it rest for 40mins, turning them after 20mins.
If you want to fry the slices, heat a pot or pan with olive oil and fry each slice for a few minutes until golden. If you want to bake them in the oven, place them on a baking tray aligned with parchment paper, brush one side with olive oil, and bake in a pre-heated oven for 20mins at 200°C. Flip, brush with olive oil, and continue baking for 15-20mins.

Cook the ragout

To a bowl, add the soy mince, smoked paprika, and pour in the vegetable stock. Mix and let the mince soak in the liquid for about 10mins, before draining and preserving the residual stock.
Heat up a big pan or pot and sauté the onions in olive oil for 3-4mins on medium heat or until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2mins. Add tomato paste and stir until it has dissolved completely.
Add the soy mince, cook for 3-4mins while occasionally stirring to make sure they don't burn to the pan. Deglaze with wine and cook until the alcohol has vaporized.
Add the canned tomatoes and the preserved vegetable stock. Cook until the tomatoes have softened and are well incorporated.
Add bay leaves, cinnamon, and dried thyme. Mix and let the ragout simmer on low heat until you need to start layering, but make sure to remove any whole spices and fresh herbs beforehand.