Musaka with eggplant - general principles and methods of preparation
Moussaka. This dish, beloved by many, came to us from Greece, where it is traditionally prepared from eggplant, tomatoes and lamb, baked with cheese sauce. True, many southern countries where this wonderful eggplant vegetable grows can also claim authorship. After all, moussaka is found in Bulgarian, Moldavian, Turkish, Macedonian, as well as cuisines of the Middle East. So there are quite a few options for cooking musaki with eggplant: with and without meat, with potatoes, rice, cauliflower or white cabbage, etc.
If you cook moussaka according to the classical recipe (it is considered the Greek version), then they use olive oil and lamb, but these ingredients can also be replaced - olive oil with corn or sunflower, and lamb with beef, pork or poultry. Parmesan for cheese sauce, can be replaced with another hard cheese, for example, Russian. Therefore, if you did not find any specific product, you should not be upset, you can safely change it to a similar one. The kitchen is where improvisation is welcome. This is how more and more new recipes are born.
Moussaka with eggplant - product preparation
Moussaka eggplants are pre-breaded in flour and fried, cutting, as required by the recipe, into slices or longitudinal slices. Then they allow excess oil to drain, for which they are put in a colander or blotted with a paper towel. Before frying, the eggplants are kept for about half an hour in salted water or sprinkled with salt. This technique kills two birds with one stone: the eggplants get rid of their inherent bitterness, and when frying they absorb less oil. If meat, rather than minced meat is added to the musaka, each meat piece must first be beaten off.
Musaka with eggplant - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Just Delicious Eggplant Moussaka
This moussaka will appeal to everyone. Even ardent opponents of eggplant will agree to try it, because this vegetable in this dish acquires a special, incomparable taste. They serve it both warm and cold, it will not become less tasty due to changes in temperature.
Ingredients:
For the main dish: 3 medium-sized eggplants, 2 medium onions (or 1 large), 1 large tomato, low-fat minced meat - 0.5 kg, 3 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp. dry white wine (here you can recall improvisation and replace the wine with chicken stock, or a glass of water with squeezed juice of a small lemon), spices to taste - salt, ground nutmeg, coriander and black pepper, herbs (parsley, basil), olive oil and flour (for breading).
For the sauce: 1 egg, 2 tbsp of flour and olive oil, 1.5 cups of milk, hard cheese - 150g, herbs, to taste salt and spices.
Cooking method
Fry the circles of unpeeled eggplant until golden brown (do not forget to soak them in salt water first). Sliced finely chopped onions in oil. Add the minced meat to the onion, which must be fried, stirring for about 10 minutes and make sure that the minced meat does not bake into lumps.
In order not to waste time while mincemeat is fried, scald the tomatoes with boiling water and peel them. Then cut into small cubes and add to the minced meat along with herbs and garlic, which also need to be chopped with a knife. After adding spices and salt, simmer for about 7 minutes, then pour in the wine and stewing for about 10 minutes, remove from heat.
It's time to get cheese sauce.
Spasserovat in a small pan flour in olive oil, breaking the lumps. Then pour in the beaten egg and milk mass and stirring constantly with a whisk or fork, boil until thickened. Then remove the sauce from the heat and add finely grated cheese to it, mix thoroughly, adding salt with spices and herbs.
The final stage has come - the assembly of moussaki. Lap half of all eggplants in a baking dish. For this number of products, a medium-sized shape (approximately 20x30 cm) is suitable. Spread half the meat filling on the eggplant. Top again eggplant and minced meat. Pour the mass with sauce, which must be evenly distributed over the surface, and put in a preheated oven (180C) for baking, for about 30 minutes, until a beautiful golden crust forms. All is ready! You can convene household members at the table and enjoy delicious food.
Recipe 2: Vegetarian Moussaka with Eggplant
Despite the fact that, according to this recipe, the moussaka is cooked without meat, it is nonetheless delicious. The absence of lamb or pork does not spoil it at all, it simply creates a different flavoring composition.
Ingredients: 2-3 medium-sized eggplant, 3-4 medium onion heads, 5 large tomatoes, 2 bell peppers, salt, a bunch of parsley, ground black pepper, cheese 100g.
Sauce: 3 yolks, 300g of natural yogurt, ground nutmeg, half a teaspoon, salt.
Cooking method
Cut eggplant along slices, 5-7 mm thick. Soak in saline for half an hour, rinse with water, squeeze, roll in flour, fry.
Onion, bell pepper cut into thin rings, tomatoes - in circles 0.5 cm thick. If the tomatoes have a rough skin, it must be removed, for which the fruits are placed in boiling water for about 4-5 minutes.
Fry onion and pepper in oil separately. Lay eggplant, onions, peppers, tomatoes in layers in a small baking dish. Sprinkle each layer with a pinch of salt and chopped parsley. Stack layers one more time. The top layer are tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Mix together the ingredients for the sauce, pour them vegetables. Put in a frying cabinet, heated to 180C, bake for 25-30 minutes. 5 minutes before the end of baking, sprinkle with finely grated cheese and return the baking dish to the oven until the cheese crust begins to melt and brown. Cheese is added at will, you can do without it, it will also be delicious.
Recipe 3: Greek Eggplant Moussaka
This is not a classic recipe for Greek moussaka, but it is very close to it. There is no potato in the original recipe, but in some parts of Greece potatoes are added to this dish. It is cut into thin circles, but, according to some gourmets, mashed potatoes should be added instead of slices, which will make the moussaka more tender.
Ingredients: half a kilogram of minced meat, 2 large eggplants, half a glass of dry red wine, 3 potatoes, tomato paste diluted with water 200 ml (in summer it is better to take 4-5 large tomatoes), 4 cloves of garlic, 2 medium-sized onions, olive oil, salt, dill, parmesan cheese - 100g.
For bechamel sauce: milk 1.5 cups, 4 tbsp. creamy butter, flour - 3 tablespoons, ground nutmeg, salt.
Cooking method
Eggplant (you can not peel) along cut into slices half a centimeter thick and fry until crust on both sides. Pre-remove bitterness from them (salt for half an hour or put in salt water).
Fry finely chopped onions, add minced meat to it, continuing to stir and fry. After 10 minutes add wine, salt, dill, tomato paste, simmer another 15-20 minutes.
Cut peeled potatoes into thin slices 3-5 mm thick, dip them in boiling water for 6-8 minutes (conveniently in a strainer or colander).
Make the sauce. Melt butter in a pan, add flour, fry until golden brown for about two to three minutes. Remove from heat and pour in portions of milk, stirring vigorously so that the mass is homogeneous, without lumps. Add salt, nutmeg and cook until thickened, stirring constantly, over low heat for about five minutes.
Put a layer of eggplant in the baking dish (you can take the pan without a handle), then lay the meat filling, slices of potatoes on it. Stir finely grated cheese into the sauce and pour it on the potatoes.
In a preheated oven at 180 ° C, put a pan with a moussaka and bake until golden brown for about 25-35 minutes. Moussaka can be served on the table in the form in which it was baked, previously cut into pieces while it is hot.
