How to cook moussaka. Greek moussaka.

If you - real gourmet you definitely like to experiment in the kitchen and try dishes different cuisines peace. And in this case, you will definitely like moussaka. Learn how to cook it to enjoy and surprise your guests.

What is this dish?

What is moussaka? This is a rather mysterious dish, common in the Middle East and the Balkans. And its mystery lies in the fact that, firstly, there are many variations, and sometimes they differ quite dramatically.

Secondly, the history of the dish is not known for certain to anyone, no one will say exactly how and when exactly it appeared. But its name can be literally translated from Arabic as “chilled”, although the recipe does not always require cooling, sometimes hot serving is welcome.

Greek moussaka is considered the most common, and therefore many consider Greece to be their homeland. It is a kind of casserole of three layers. The bottom one is eggplant with butter, the middle one is meat (often lamb) with tomatoes, and the top one is bechamel sauce.

In some Arab countries, moussaka is cold salad, which is made from eggplant and tomatoes, and this variant is reminiscent of Italian caponata. And in Romanian, Bosnian and Serbian cuisines, eggplants may not be used at all, they are often replaced by tomatoes.

In the Moldavian version, moussaka is meat dish with vegetables, the proportion of which is often half or even more. And the main feature is that the products are placed in the container at the same time and stewed together for about an hour, so the vegetables become very soft.

Lamb is usually used as the main ingredient, but veal is also suitable. And obligatory vegetables are tomatoes, eggplants and onions, and they are sometimes supplemented with potatoes, mushrooms or cabbage. The composition certainly includes spices.

In Bulgaria, moussaka, in general, has a slightly different meaning and is a mixture of potatoes and minced meat, which are mixed with filling and baked in the oven.

How to cook?

How to cook moussaka? Below are some recipes from different cuisines.

Option one

First of all, try making traditional Greek moussaka.

Ingredients you will need:

about 700-800 grams of eggplant;
about 800 grams of meat (lamb, beef, or equal parts, such as veal and pork);
three tomatoes;
one bulb;
vegetable oil for frying (preferably olive oil);
pepper and salt to taste.

To prepare the bechamel sauce:

800 ml of milk;
80 grams of flour;
80 grams of butter;
one teaspoon of salt (without a slide);
pepper to taste.

Cooking:

Eggplant should be cut into rings or thin layers and fried in a pan so that they become soft and acquire a golden crust.
The meat must either be finely chopped with a special knife, or passed through a meat grinder.
Peel the onion, cut into half rings.
Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute, make cross-shaped incisions and remove the skin.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, fry the onion first, then add the minced meat, then put the tomatoes.
Now you can start making the sauce. Melt in a frying pan first. butter, add flour to it and heat it, stirring, for about a minute. Now gently pour in about half of the milk in a thin stream, constantly stirring the entire composition with a spatula or spoon. Mix the mass until smooth, then add the remaining milk and sweat the sauce over low heat for five minutes, then add pepper and salt and mix everything thoroughly again.
Now, in a baking dish (it is advisable to grease its bottom with oil), first lay a layer of eggplant, then minced meat with tomatoes, and then pour everything with sauce.
Send the dish to the oven for about half an hour. A light brown crust should form on the surface.
Ready!

Option two

This is a Balkan moussaka recipe with potatoes. Here's what you need to prepare it:

three potatoes;
about 400 grams of minced meat;
three tomatoes;
one bulb;
two large eggplants;
three cloves of garlic;
two bell peppers;
300 grams of Serbian cheese or feta cheese;
400 ml of yogurt;
one carrot;
vegetable oil;
salt.

Cooking method:

Potatoes need to be peeled and boiled, but until half cooked. Next, cut it into rings and place in a mold, greasing the bottom with vegetable oil.
Mash the cheese with a fork and mix with chopped garlic (you can chop everything together in a blender). Now add yogurt to this mixture.
Pour the third cheese-yogurt sauce over the potatoes.
Eggplants should be baked on parchment until fully cooked. Put them on the potatoes.
Next, lay a layer of minced meat, not forgetting to salt it. Then put the chopped and pre-peeled onion on top.
Now wash and grate the carrots, also place them in a baking sheet. Pour another third of the sauce on top.
Peel and cut the bell pepper into slices, grease with oil and bake in the oven (then the skin can be removed), put them in an even layer on the sauce.
Cut the tomatoes into thin rings, put on the pepper and pour the rest of the sauce.
Bake the dish in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for about forty minutes.

Option three

If you don’t really like Greek eggplant moussaka, then cook a more tender Bulgarian one.

Ingredients:

4 potatoes;
1 carrot;
1 onion;
500 grams of minced meat;
3 eggs;
400 ml of yogurt;
butter;
spices and salt to taste.

Cooking:

Peel potatoes and cut into cubes.
Peel the onion, cut into half rings. A carrot is better to rub.
Fry the onion and carrots in a pan, add the minced meat, and after five minutes the potatoes. Fry everything for about 10 minutes, then add a little water and simmer for another ten minutes, at the end put seasonings and salt.
Transfer the minced potatoes to a baking dish, brushing the bottom with butter.
Place the baking sheet in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Mix yogurt with eggs and pour moussaka with this mixture, put in the oven for another five minutes.

How to apply?

Since moussaka is both a side dish and a meat dish at the same time, it can be served as a full-fledged independent snack.

All vegetables must be of high quality and ripe, only then they will turn out juicy and soft.
Use meat pulp for cooking. But it may well be quite oily, which will make the dish even more juicy and tender.
Use your favorite spices to give the moussaka a unique, special flavor.

Bon appetit to you and all your household!

Moussaka is popular dish Greek cooking. A high-calorie and incredibly tasty dish served in every Greek restaurant.

Moussaka is a casserole of vegetables, especially eggplant, and meat with bechamel sauce. The moussaka recipe is known in the cuisine of many countries, but the Greek moussaka is the most delicious.

There are many varieties of eggplant and meat casseroles, and there is always room for your own culinary and taste preferences. After all, a wonderful hat was added to the moussaka in Greek french sauce bechamel - and the taste of the dish just won! With traditional Greek yogurt instead of moussaka sauce, it is just as wonderful.

Moussak recipe at home

The recipe includes the main components of Greek moussaka (eggplant, meat, bechamel, cheese) with a little improvisation (no muscat, but there is Sun-dried tomatoes). The classic recipe is at the bottom of the page.

Recipe Ingredients

How to make moussaka

Eggplant for moussak

Classic Greek moussaka recipe

Perhaps you should have started with this moussaka recipe, since it is considered basic. Includes, in addition to eggplant, potatoes. Nutmeg is part of both minced meat and bechamel.

Recipe Ingredients

(for 7 people)

3 kg potatoes
2 kg eggplant
1/2 liter olive oil

For minced meat

850 grams ground beef
1 bulb
2 fresh tomatoes
2 glasses of water
salt and pepper
2/3 cup olive oil

For the bechamel sauce

5-6 tablespoons flour
250 grams of butter
400 grams of baked milk
800 grams of water - to dilute the milk
40 grams of grated low-melting hard cheese
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon nutmeg powder
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

How to make Greek moussaka

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into long slices 2 cm thick.

2. Wash the eggplants and cut them into 2 cm thick slices. Place the sliced eggplants in salt water for 20 minutes to release the bitterness from them.

3. At medium temperature, fry potatoes on both sides in olive oil, then eggplant.

4. To prepare minced meat, grate 2 tomatoes and finely chop the onion.

5. Fry the onion in a saucepan, add minced meat to it and fry it for 7 minutes.

6. Add grated tomatoes, salt, pepper, nutmeg and pour 2 cups of water.

7. Cook the minced meat for approximately 45 minutes - until all the liquid has evaporated.

8. Once the potatoes, eggplant and minced meat are ready, start filling the baking sheet. Lay a layer of potatoes on the bottom, and a layer of eggplant on top of it. Spread the minced meat over the eggplants. Put another layer of eggplant on top of the minced meat, and again a layer of potatoes on top of the eggplant.

How to cook bechamel with eggs

Dilute baked milk water. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Once the butter has melted, add the flour to the pan - while constantly stirring the mixture. Then add the nutmeg and egg yolks to the pan, then - very slowly - pour in the milk.

Add fire. Remove the saucepan from the heat as soon as the mixture boils.

An alternative way to prepare bechamel is to slowly add grated cheese, stir until desired thickness. Then you do not need to sprinkle cheese on top of the casserole.

Pour the prepared béchamel sauce over the top potato layer and sprinkle the grated cheese and breadcrumbs.

Preheat the oven and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the crust is browned.

Moussaka - recipe with potatoes, zucchini and tomato sauce

It is generally accepted that the composition of moussak necessarily includes eggplant. But this is not a feature of all cuisines. In Romania and Serbia, tomatoes are used instead of eggplant. And in Bulgaria, the moussaka recipe provides for the formation of layers of potatoes and minced meat.

Recipe Ingredients: eggplant - 4 medium, zucchini - 3 medium, potatoes - 2 medium, Bell pepper- 2, onion - 1, tomato - 4-5, garlic - 2 cloves, tomato paste- 1 tbsp. a spoon, Ground beef- 500 g, seasonings (cumin, nutmeg, salt, pepper, coriander, thyme, oregano), fresh parsley, olive oil, parmesan - 70 g, bread crumbs.

Cooking. Cut the eggplant and zucchini into circles, put in a colander and generously salt. Cover with a lid and press down with a weight to drain the liquid. Leave for 20 minutes. Then fry in olive oil until light brown. Remove excess oil with kitchen paper.

Lightly boil potatoes in uniforms. Peel and cut into circles no more than 5 mm thick. Fry finely chopped onion, chopped peppers (pre-remove the seeds) until soft and slightly brown. Add 1 clove of crushed garlic. Fry ground beef in a pan with butter, seasoning it with spices, pepper and salt.

Make tomato sauce. Peel the tomatoes, cut into small pieces, mix with pasta and 1 clove of garlic. Season to taste and simmer over low heat until thickened.
Mix breadcrumbs with finely chopped parsley, finely grated cheese and spices.

Spread in layers in the form: the first is a layer of potatoes, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, then a layer of minced meat, then a layer of eggplant, pour half the tomato sauce and put the fried onions and peppers, sprinkle with breadcrumbs with herbs and cheese, then a layer of zucchini, pour them with the remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes. Cover with foil for the first 10 minutes. Let cool for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Vegetarian moussaka without eggplant

Moussaka is terrible high-calorie dish. And at the same time delicious. Those who do not eat meat will love the recipe for a vegetarian casserole. To be exact, this is moussaka without meat, but with eggs and dairy products, that is, moussaka for lacto-ovo-vegetarians.

Recipe Ingredients: carrots - 250 g, celery - 1 root (about 100 g), onions - 2, olive oil, potatoes - 5, green green bean- 500 g, rice - 0.5 cups, eggs - 4, milk - 0.5-0.75 cups.

Making Moussaka for Vegetarians

Finely chop or grate the carrots and celery. Fry in oil until soft with finely chopped onion. Boil in their uniforms, peel and rub on coarse grater potato. Boil beans and rice separately. Cut beans into small pieces. Lay in layers in a dish, starting with potatoes.

Make a sauce of milk and eggs, salt and add your favorite spices. Can be done and classic bechamel. Pour over the vegetables (shake the mold a little so that the sauce reaches all the layers).
Bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Cut the cooled moussaka into squares or rectangular pieces. Can be served with sour cream.

This recipe is for all those who are in love with Greece and, in particular, with its culinary embodiment - moussaka!

We brought the recipe from the island of Zakynthos and got it from a professional moussaka maker of an excellent family tavern. Making moussaka is not difficult, but very long, it took me 2.5 hours to prepare and 40 minutes to bake. Now, every time I order moussaka in Greece, I will mentally bow to the chef!

Ingredients for Greek Moussaka

For sauce:

butter - 40 g

flour - 30 g

milk - 400 ml

eggs - 2 pcs.

hard cheese - 250 g

nutmeg - two pinches

For moussaka:

minced meat - 0.8 kg (lamb, veal)

ground cinnamon - 2 pinches

potatoes - 5 pcs.

eggplant - 3 pcs. (~800-900 g)

onion - 1 pc.

tomatoes - 4 pcs.

dry white wine – 200 ml

hard cheese - 100g

vegetable oil

ground black pepper

Moussaka recipe

First you need to prepare the sauce. Perhaps this is the most time-consuming part of the moussaka. It is important to cook the sauce over low heat and constantly stir with a whisk so that lumps do not form.
Put the butter in a frying pan, melt it, add flour little by little, stirring constantly. If lumps still turn out, add a little more oil and mix again, the lumps will dissolve.

Let the mixture cool slightly and heat the milk in a saucepan. Milk and formula should ideally be at the same temperature. Place the skillet over low heat. Gradually add milk to the mixture, whisking constantly. Stir especially vigorously around the edges, where the sauce tends to boil.

The consistency of the sauce is similar to thick pancake batter.
Grate the cheese on a coarse grater and add to the sauce.

Stir until the cheese is completely melted. Add nutmeg.

Pour the sauce into a separate bowl. Cool down a bit. In a bowl, lightly beat two eggs with a whisk and pour the eggs into the sauce, stirring occasionally.

The sauce is ready. cover it cling film and for now let's forget about it. It will come in handy at the very end of the preparation of moussaka.
Now let's deal with vegetables and minced meat. Here all actions are done in parallel, as if you are the many-armed Shiva :)
Cut the eggplant into slices.

Eggplant should be salted and left for 30 minutes so that they give up excess water. While the eggplants are “crying”, we will deal with minced meat and potatoes.
Potatoes need to be peeled and cut into slices.

We will fry potatoes for moussaka, because it is delicious!

In parallel, fry the onion in a separate saucepan until golden brown. Gradually, slowly, so that it does not burn, but is properly saturated with oil and “languishes”.

Ready onions need to be transferred to a separate bowl. At the same time, it is desirable that most of the oil remains in the pan. When the potatoes are ready, put them in a bowl. This will be the first floor of our moussaka.

The third action that we do in parallel with our third pair of hands is peeling the tomatoes from the skin. To do this, you need to make cruciform cuts near the stem, pour boiling water over the tomatoes for a minute, then pour over cold water and remove the skin. This execution is described in detail in the sauce recipe.
So let's cut the tomatoes.

Ufff. Another parallel action is preparing minced meat. The meat needs to be salted, pepper and be sure to add a couple of pinches ground cinnamon. This is the whole point of Greek moussaka. Minced meat should be put on a heated greased olive oil frying pan and fry.

Meanwhile, the eggplants have already given up water. You need to remove this water by blotting the eggplant with napkins.
Then put the slices on a baking sheet and grease them with olive oil.

IN original recipe fried eggplant. But we don’t need extra fat, so we will bake the eggplants for 15-20 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. You can hold it for another five minutes under the grill of the oven for beauty :) Here are my ready-made eggplants:

While the eggplants are baking, add wine to our fried minced meat.

Also add fried onions and tomatoes to the minced meat.

Stew minced meat with vegetables and wine until the liquid has completely evaporated.

Ready eggplants (exactly half) are laid out in a mold on potatoes on the second floor.

Next, lay out our minced meat in the third layer.

Then - the remaining eggplant.

Pour sauce over moussaka, sprinkle with grated cheese

We put the form in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 40 minutes.

We get our beauty. Let the moussaka cool down a little, as hot you will not be able to cut it neatly. It has been noticed that if moussaka is infused a little, it will be tastier - the aromas of wine, nutmeg and cinnamon will merge and you will get exactly that unique authentic Greek taste!

Bon Appetit!

Moussaka, the recipe of which may vary depending on the territorial origin or simply the imagination of the chef, always turns out to be surprisingly tasty, fragrant, full-bodied and makes the most pleasant tasting experience.

Moussaka - a classic recipe

Greek-style moussaka with eggplant is an intricate dish that requires time, which no doubt is compensated by the perfect result. The main basic points that accompany the classic recipe and its variations:

Eggplant and potato slices are brought to half-cookedness in a pan or in the oven.
Minced meat is stewed with a tomato base, spices and wine.
Vegetables and stacked in a vessel for baking in the oven in layers.
The final layer is bechamel and cheese chips.

Moussaka with potatoes and minced meat

Next, you will learn how to make moussaka with potatoes. In the original, minced lamb should be used as the meat component. But not everyone likes this kind of meat, so they often take beef, less often pork and chicken. Fillet slices are twisted in a meat grinder or chopped with a blender. It takes 2 hours to make 6 servings of food.

Ingredients:

potatoes - 1.5 kg;
eggplant - 1 kg;
minced meat - 900 g;
onion - 150 g;
tomato puree- 150 g;
tomatoes - 300 g;
wine - 100 ml;
cheese - 250 g;
olive oil and butter - 150 g each;
flour - 100 g;
milk - 1 l;
spices.

Cooking

Vegetables are cut and baked for 10 minutes.
Fry meat with onion in fat, add tomatoes, wine, mashed potatoes, seasonings.
Flour is sautéed in oil, milk is poured in, salted, peppered, nutmeg is added and heated until thickened.
Lay layers of vegetables and meat base, sprinkling each with cheese.
Top everything with sauce and cheese.
Moussaka is baked in Greek at 180 degrees for 40 minutes.

Moussaka with minced meat

Meat moussaka, the recipe of which is described below, is prepared without potatoes, which are replaced with an additional amount of basic ingredients. For meat-eaters, this option will be more like it, because your favorite product becomes one of the main ones. here it replaces the simpler sauce mixture. From the indicated amount in 2 hours you will get 6 servings.

Ingredients:

eggplant - 1.5 kg;
minced meat - 1 kg;
onion - 150 g;
tomatoes - 500 g;
parmesan - 250 g;
sour cream - 100 g;
eggs - 6 pcs.;
oil - 100 ml;
spices.

Cooking

This moussaka recipe is easy to make.
Separately fry the meat with onions and eggplant mugs.
Lay the components with tomatoes in layers, sprinkling with parmesan.
Beat the eggs with sour cream, pour the contents of the mold with the mixture, crush with parmesan and bake at 200 degrees for half an hour.

Moussaka vegetable

Moussaka with eggplant, the recipe of which you will learn below, is prepared without meat, which in this case replace red lentils. The taste characteristics of the dish do not become worse from this, but rather acquire originality and a kind of piquancy. If necessary, eggs can be replaced with a brewed mixture of flour and milk. In 2 hours you can make a meal for 6 people.

Ingredients:

eggplant - 1 kg;
bell peppers- 250 g;
onion - 250 g;
lentils - 200 g;
tomatoes - 400 g;
garlic cloves - 4 pcs.;
ricotta - 250 g;
yogurt - 250 g;
cheese - 100 g;
eggs - 5 pcs.;
oil - 80 ml;
seasonings.

Cooking

Eggplant mugs and other vegetables are fried in different containers with onions and garlic.
Lentils are boiled and mixed with roast.
The resulting mass is laid out in a mold, alternating with eggplant.
Yogurt is mixed with ricotta, eggs and spices, spread on top and sprinkled with cheese.
Vegetarian moussaka is baked for 40 minutes at 200 degrees.

Moussaka with zucchini

Moussaka, the recipe of which is no less interesting than the previous ones, is made out with zucchini. They can completely replace eggplants, if they were not at hand on time, or use a duet of two vegetables. It is preferable to choose young fruits with soft seeds. To make delicious Greek dish For 6 people it will take an hour and a half.

Ingredients:

zucchini - 0.5 kg;
eggplant - 0.7 kg;
minced meat - 700 g;
onion - 150 g;
tomatoes - 300 g;
wine - 100 ml;
cheese - 250 g;
olive oil and butter - 100 and 75 g;
flour - 90 g;
eggs - 2 pcs.;
milk - 700 ml;
oregano and cinnamon - ½ teaspoon each;
spices.

Cooking

Vegetables are cut into plates, fried in a pan or baked in the oven.
minced beef fry with onion cut into fat, pour in wine, add tomatoes, seasonings and cook until soft.
Milk is poured into the flour sautéed in butter, heated until thickened, eggs and half the cheese are added.
Spread the components in layers in a container, cover with sauce and the remaining shavings.
Finish cooking moussaka by baking until golden brown.

Moussaka in Bulgarian

Bulgarian moussaka, the recipe of which is simpler and faster than the others, is distinguished by its individual design. Prepared semi-finished vegetable mugs are laid out in containers vertically alternately with an accordion. The dish can be made both vegetable and with the addition of a meat component in the form of minced meat fried with tomato. In an hour, you can make 4 servings of food.

Ingredients:

potatoes and eggplants - 3 pcs.;
bell peppers - 2 pcs.;
tomatoes - 4 pcs.;
garlic - 3 cloves;
eggs - 3 pcs.;
sour cream - 200 g;
parmesan - 100 g;
seasonings.

Cooking

Realizing Bulgarian recipe moussaki, fry eggplant mugs a little, boil until half cooked and chop potatoes in the same manner and cut tomatoes.
The ingredients are placed in a mold, poured with an egg-sour cream mixture with spices and garlic, sprinkled with cheese.
The dish is baked for half an hour at 200 degrees.

Serbian moussaka - recipe

Delicious moussaka, the recipe of which is popular in Serbia, is made from potatoes and meat using a simplified technology. Peeled potatoes this time are cut into thin circles and laid raw for baking. Tomatoes are peeled and chopped a little thicker. For pouring, the components are simply mixed together until smooth. In 1.5 hours it will be possible to feed 6 eaters.

Ingredients:

potatoes - 1 kg;
onions and carrots - 100 g each;
minced meat - 800 g;
tomatoes - 500 g;
parmesan - 150 g;
For filling:
milk - 250 ml;
eggs - 3 pcs.;
oil - 150 ml;
spices.

Cooking

Minced meat is fried with onion and carrot slices, seasoned.
Lay potato and tomato mugs, fry in layers, fill with filling.
baked Serbian moussaka 30 minutes under foil and the same amount without it.

Moussaka in a slow cooker

Greek moussaka with potatoes and minced meat surprisingly rich and tasty in a slow cooker. The food is baked in the "Baking" mode, and the time depends on the power of the device. As a sauce, instead of the recommended filling, you can use bechamel from half a liter of milk and flour sautéed in butter (50 g each). In 1.5 hours you get a dish for 4 people.