Moussaka with potatoes and minced meat is a simple recipe. Greek moussaka with eggplant, minced meat and potatoes in the oven

Moussaka is a Greek dish, essentially an eggplant casserole. Let me make a reservation right away: there are many recipes for moussaka, it can be without meat, from only vegetables, with or without potatoes. The main and constant ingredient is eggplant and bechamel sauce.
So, I have already listed everything that is required.

Peel the potatoes, cut them into circles, and lightly fry them.

Finely chop the onion

fry in a minimum amount of oil.

Then take out the fried onion and fry the minced meat almost without oil.

I used beef, you can use any, as long as it is not too fatty.

Make a criss-cross cut on the top of the tomatoes.

pour boiling water over them,

and immediately rinse with cold water. This is necessary to make it easier to remove the skin, which we do very simply.

Cut the peeled tomatoes into small cubes.

When the minced meat changes color from red to gray, add fried onions, tomatoes, salt and pepper. If you have greens, feel free to add them. I added a little dried dill, and of course, basil - it fits perfectly here.

heat and simmer the tomato a little until soft.

Now it's the eggplant's turn. Wash and cut into thin slices.

Add salt and fill with cold water. Previously, this was done to remove the bitterness, but modern varieties of eggplant are not bitter at all. But I continue to do this, since such eggplants absorb much less oil when frying.
After 10 minutes, remove, squeeze out excess water and fry in oil on both sides. If you have a grill pan, you can fry them on it.

Almost all the components of the moussaka are ready. There is some sauce left. To prepare it, fry a couple of tablespoons of flour in a dry frying pan until it begins to change color.

Then add butter (50 grams), stirring vigorously so that no lumps form.

Add milk or cream in small portions, continuing to stir, and bring to a boil.

Classic bechamel requires a pinch of nutmeg, but my family doesn’t do well with it, so I did without it.

And here’s a departure from the classics - add grated cheese to the sauce.

At the same time, you need to leave a little cheese so you can sprinkle the moussaka on top.

Stir until the cheese is completely dissolved. The most important thing is to achieve the correct consistency of the sauce; this can only be done by eye; no proportions will help here. The sauce should be thickened, but at the same time pour from a spoon, and not fall in pieces, much like not very thick sour cream.
If you don’t have much experience and the sauce turns out to be lumpy, it doesn’t matter! Everything can be easily fixed by rubbing it through a sieve, or in a modern way, using a blender, which will turn everything into a homogeneous mass in three seconds.

Let's start assembling.
At the bottom of the mold - I used a heat-resistant glass one, but it can be anything - put a layer of potatoes.

Drizzle a little sauce on top.

Then a layer of minced meat with onions and tomatoes, and again a little sauce.

The final layer is eggplant. We overlap them one on top of the other to cover the entire surface.

And now pour the remaining sauce in an even layer. Now you will understand why consistency is so important - it should spread, flow down a little, and not remain unsightly lumps on the surface.

Place in the oven preheated to 200 degrees for 20-30 minutes - it all depends on your oven and the size of your pan. We have all the ingredients ready, so bake until a delicious golden brown crust forms on top.

About 5 minutes before it’s ready, sprinkle the surface of the moussaka with the remaining grated cheese, wait for it to melt - and now the delicious summer dish is ready!

This is how it looks from the side - all the layers are visible. Sounds delicious to me?

Don't think that it is very difficult and time-consuming. Yes, you will have to work hard, but considering that everything can be fried at the same time in different pans, it won’t take that long. And the result is worth it, believe me!

Moussaka is the most tender, with an almost airy layer of sauce, juicy, aromatic, and most importantly, filling. Even picky men are happy.

Like any baked dish, moussaka is easier to cut cold, but I prefer to eat it hot.

Cooking time: PT01H00M 1 h.

In this article we will look at the process of making moussaka.

In the culinary world, there are a huge number of recipes for delicious casseroles, but today our choice fell on an interesting dish, which is traditionally considered Greek.

So, today we will prepare a dish called moussaka, which is a delicate casserole with a variety of fillings.

Greek dish moussaka: classic Greek recipe

Moussaka, as mentioned earlier, is a very popular Greek dish, which is usually prepared from vegetables, most often eggplants and minced meat with a delicious bechamel sauce.

Since moussaka was initially considered an exclusively Greek dish, we will begin preparing the delicacy according to the classic recipe.

So, we will need the following products:

Potatoes – 2.5 kg
Eggplants – 2.5 kg
Olive or vegetable oil – 150 ml
Beef pulp – 1 kg
Onion – 1 pc.
Tomatoes – 2 pcs.
Spices, salt - at your discretion
Breadcrumbs - 3.5 tbsp. l.
Cheese – 50 g

We will also prepare a sauce, it will require the following ingredients:

Flour – 5.5 tbsp. l.
Butter – 200 g
Baked milk – 350 g
Eggs – 3-4 pcs., we only need yolks
Ground nutmeg – 1.5 tsp.

Now that all the ingredients are prepared, you can begin the process of preparing the dish itself.

Let's start with meat. Take the beef pulp, wash it thoroughly and dry it with paper towels. Now we chop the pulp into pieces so that we can make minced meat out of it. The chopped pieces can be chopped using a meat grinder or blender
Now we put our minced meat in the container in which we will fry it, first pour oil into the frying pan
Peel the onion and chop it, add it to the minced meat
When the minced meat and onions are lightly fried, season them with our spices and salt
Let's start with tomatoes. We wash them and grind them using a grater or blender. Place the resulting puree in a frying pan, mix all the ingredients and simmer until done.
Take vegetables, wash and dry. After peeling the potatoes, chop them into medium-thick slices. We also peel and cut the eggplants into slices, cutting the vegetable lengthwise. In order to remove the bitterness from the vegetable, you can soak it for at least 10 minutes. in saline solution
We will pre-bake the vegetables in the oven for a bit; to do this, transfer the potatoes and eggplants to a baking sheet and cook for about 20 minutes. at a temperature of 170 degrees

While the minced meat and vegetables are cooking, let's make the sauce.

Take a container and put butter in it
As soon as the butter is completely melted, add flour to it and quickly stir the contents of the pan thoroughly to avoid the appearance of lumps
Now it’s the milk’s turn; it needs to be poured into the container very carefully, little by little. Add milk - mix ingredients
Beat the eggs and spices into the almost finished sauce and beat the mixture. The sauce is ready

Let's assemble our dish:

Lightly spray a baking dish with oil and sprinkle with breadcrumbs
Place a layer of meat on the bottom
Now a layer of potatoes
Layer of eggplant
Once again we repeat one by one, laying out all the layers
Pour our sauce into the mold
Let the dish bake for about half an hour at the same temperature
In 3-5 minutes. Before the end of the cooking process, sprinkle the moussaka with grated cheese

Recipe:

This recipe is very similar to the previous one, however, it contains other vegetables. So, let's see how quickly and easily you can prepare moussaka in Bulgarian style.

We will need the following products:

Minced meat – 550 g
Onion – 2 pcs.
Bell pepper – 2 pcs.
Carrot – 1 pc.
Eggplants – 2 pcs.
Eggs – 3 pcs.
Yogurt for dressing - half a liter
Oil for frying – 3.5 tbsp. l.
Oregano, cinnamon, turmeric, paprika, salt - at your discretion

Let's start cooking:

Let's deal with the minced meat. You can buy minced pork or ground beef. You can buy “assorted” or, if possible, buy the pulp and make the minced meat yourself. If you don’t like fatty meat, but still want to make moussaka, use minced chicken
Peel and chop the onion
Wash the pepper and remove the core, cut into rings
Peel the eggplants, remove the bitterness from them if necessary, cut into slices to length
Wash the carrots and chop them into cubes or slices
Pour oil into the frying pan and add onions and carrots, fry the vegetables a little, about 3 minutes.
Add the minced meat to the vegetables, mix and fry for another 10 minutes.
Season the contents of the pan with spices, herbs, and salt.
Pre-bake the eggplants and peppers in the oven. To do this, place them on a baking sheet greased with oil and cook for about 15 minutes.
Now let's assemble the dish:
Place the eggplants in the mold
Now pepper
Repeat the layout until the ingredients run out
Yogurt, pre-mixed with eggs and seasoned with spices and salt, pour into the mold
Bake the moussaka for about 15-25 minutes.

Moussaka with eggplant in Armenian: recipe

Armenian moussaka is somewhat different from the traditional dish. This delicacy turns out to be unusually satisfying, high-calorie and, of course, tasty.

We purchase products:

Beef pulp – 650 g
Eggplants – 5 pcs.
Onion – 1.5 pcs.
Tomatoes – 2 pcs.
Rice – half a glass
Oil for frying
Greenery,

The cooking process is very simple:

Wash the beef pulp, dry it and cut into small pieces
Wash the eggplants, peel them, cut them into slices and sprinkle them with salt to “pull out” the bitterness from them. After 15 min. We rinse the vegetables thoroughly with water to remove unnecessary salt.
Peel the onion and chop into cubes
We wash the rice in running cold water, this must be done as efficiently as possible. Place the container with rice and cook it until half cooked.
In a frying pan into which we first pour the oil, place the meat and fry for 5 minutes.
Add onion to the beef and continue frying for about 3-5 minutes.
In another frying pan, fry the eggplants until half cooked. Transfer them to a plate and wait for the oil to drain a little from the vegetables.
Mix rice, beef and onion in a container. Season it all with salt and spices and mix
Wash and core the tomatoes, cut into slices, finely chop the greens

Assembling the dish:

Grease a baking tray or mold with oil
Lay out the eggplants
Rice and meat mixture
Eggplant
Tomatoes

Put it in the oven. We expect about 15-25 minutes. Serve the dish hot, after garnishing with herbs. The peculiarity of this recipe is that it is not minced meat that is placed in the dish, but pieces of meat. However, if you don't like it, you can grind the pulp and use mince.

Serbian moussaka: recipe

Now let's see how the Serbs prepare moussaka. We would call this dish “lighter”, because this recipe requires using a minimum of ingredients.

Products we need:

Pulp of pork, beef - 300 g each
Potatoes – 7 pcs.
Carrots, onions – 2 pcs.
Eggs – 2 pcs.
Cheese – 50 g
Tomatoes – 2 pcs.
Spices, spices, salt - at your discretion
Vegetable oil
Greenery
Milk

Preparing the dish:

We wash the meat, dry it and grind it using a meat grinder or blender.
We clean and wash the vegetables. Chop the onion into cubes, carrots into strips, potatoes into slices. Potatoes should be cut as thinly as possible, because we will not pre-fry or boil them.
Fry onions and carrots in oil, like frying for soup
Add our minced meat to the fried vegetables and fry for about 15 minutes.
Season the contents of the pan with spices, spices and salt
Grease the mold with oil, lay out potatoes, minced meat, potatoes, minced meat and tomatoes, potatoes
Place the container in the oven and bake until the potatoes are done, about 35-40 minutes.
Min. 10-15 before the end of the cooking process, beat the eggs with milk and pour this mixture over the moussaka. And in 5 minutes. – sprinkle with shredded cheese
Already serving the dish, it needs to be flavored with chopped herbs

Moussaka with potatoes: recipe

Moussaka with potatoes turns out to be very satisfying, which is why most housewives prefer this recipe. Let's see how to prepare this delicacy.

We will need:

Lamb pulp – 500 g
Onion – 1.5 pcs.
Canned tomatoes – 300 g
Eggplant – 1 pc.
Potatoes – 4 pcs.
Sweet pepper – 1 pc.
Garlic – 3 cloves
Butter – 2 tbsp. l.
Milk – 250 ml
Cheese – 50 g
Vegetable oil – 3.5 tbsp. l.
Flour – 1.5-2 tbsp. l.
Spices, spices, salt - at your discretion

Let's start cooking:

Wash the meat, dry it and pass it through a meat grinder
Peel the onion and chop with a knife or blender
Place the onion in a heated frying pan with oil, after 3 minutes. add minced meat to it, fry the contents of the pan for 15-20 minutes.
Place the tomatoes in a frying pan and season everything with salt and spices, mix and let simmer for about 15 minutes.
Wash the eggplant, peel it, cut it into slices and add salt to remove the bitterness. In 10 minutes. Wash the eggplants and fry in a frying pan until half cooked
Peel the potatoes, cut them into slices and lightly boil them
Wash and core the pepper and cut into slices
Place minced meat, potatoes, peppers and eggplant in a pre-greased baking dish.

Prepare the sauce:

Place the butter in a container, melt it, add flour, and mix the ingredients thoroughly. Pour in the milk, let the contents of the pan boil and thicken, season with spices, add salt as needed
Pour this sauce over our moussaka with potatoes and sprinkle the dish with chopped cheese
Wait about 40 minutes for the dish to cook in the oven

Moussaka with zucchini: recipe

Moussaka with zucchini is very popular, because zucchini is an affordable vegetable, and the taste of the dish with it is simply incredible.

Ingredients for the dish:

Minced meat – 550 g
Onion – 1.5 pcs.
Tomatoes – 2 pcs.
Zucchini – 4 pcs. (1 kg)
Potatoes – 2 pcs.
Red wine – 150 ml
Vegetable oil – 100 ml
Spices, spices, salt - at your discretion

We will prepare the sauce from the following products:

Flour – 2.5 tbsp. l.
Eggs – 3 pcs.
Hard cheese – 100 g
Butter – 100 g
Mixed nuts (peanuts, almonds) – 50 g
Milk – half a liter

All ingredients have been collected, let's start cooking:

Let's start with the main ingredient. Wash the zucchini and cut it into slices lengthwise. Fry in oil until half cooked and transfer to a plate so that the oil drains from the vegetables.
Wash the potatoes, boil them in their skins until half cooked, peel them and cut into slices
The onion should be peeled and finely chopped
In a frying pan, into which we first pour the oil, add the onion, after 3 minutes. add minced meat, stir, fry for about 7 minutes.
At this time, wash the tomatoes, remove the core and chop
Now add tomatoes to the minced meat, season it all with spices, salt and pour in wine, mix and simmer until the liquid evaporates

Prepare the sauce like this:

Melt the butter in a container, add flour to it, mix. Pour in milk, season with spices, turn off the heat under the pan. Add the pre-chopped nut mixture and cheese and mix. Beat the eggs into the sauce and beat the mixture

Assembling the dish:

Place zucchini (half), potatoes, minced meat and all other zucchini into a pre-greased baking dish. Pour in the sauce and cook in the oven for about an hour.

Moussaka with rice: recipe

It's time to tell you about a delicious casserole with rice and vegetables. This recipe is perfect for those people who are watching their figure or just want to diversify the menu with some dish that does not contain meat.

We buy the following products:

Eggplants – 4 pcs.
Onion – 2 pcs.
Sweet pepper – 2 pcs.
Tomatoes – 2 pcs.
Rice – half a glass
Eggs – 2 pcs.
Wheat flour – 2 tbsp. l.
Milk – 200 ml
Vegetable oil – half a glass
Spices, spices, salt - at your discretion

Preparing moussaka:

Wash the eggplants, peel them, remove the bitterness from them in a well-known way. Wash and fry in a frying pan
Rinse the rice thoroughly until the water runs clear.
Peel the onion and chop it as finely as possible
Fry the onion and rice for about 10 minutes. stir the ingredients all the time
Add about 300 ml of water to the rice, add some salt, and cook until the water evaporates
Cut tomatoes into slices
Wash and core the pepper and cut into slices
In a pre-greased dish, place half of the eggplants, tomatoes and rice, then all the peppers, again rice, eggplants, tomatoes.
Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake for about half an hour.
Beat the egg, flour, spices, salt and milk and get the sauce
Fill after 30 minutes. add sauce to our dish and cook without foil for about 20 minutes.

Moussaka with cabbage: recipe

We present to your attention an extremely tasty and healthy recipe. This dish is perfect not only for a family lunch or dinner, but also for a holiday table. This moussaka always turns out very fragrant and tender.

Required products:

Beef, pork pulp – 550 g
Champignons – 350 g
Cauliflower – 550 g
Onion - 1 pc.
Garlic – a couple of cloves
Milk – half a liter
Eggs – 4 pcs.
Cheese -70 g
Spices, spices, salt - at your discretion
Vegetable oil – 3 tbsp. l.

Preparing the delicacy:

Peel the onion and garlic and pass it together with the meat through a meat grinder to obtain minced meat.
We clean the mushrooms, wash them and chop them into slices, or cut each mushroom into 2-4 parts
Fry the mushrooms in vegetable oil, and after 5 minutes. add minced meat to it and fry the contents of the pan for about 15-20 minutes.
Season the minced meat with the necessary spices and salt
Let's start with the cabbage. We wash it thoroughly, divide it into inflorescences and leave them for 5 minutes. into boiling water
Take a baking sheet, or better yet a deeper baking dish, and grease it with oil.
Place half the cabbage in a container
Then add the minced meat
And again a layer of cabbage
Beat eggs, milk and cheese with the addition of salt and spices. Pour this liquid over the moussaka.
Cook in the oven for about 1 hour.
You can serve it hot, however, in this case the dish may crumble. It’s better to let the dish cool a little and then cut it into portions

Vegetarian moussaka with vegetables: recipe

There is no meat, milk or eggs in your diet, but you really want to try this dish? There is an excellent recipe for vegetarian moussaka for you, which, by the way, is no less in demand than recipes that contain meat.

So we need to take:

Potatoes – 3 pcs.
Onion – 1.5 pcs.
Carrot – 1 pc.
Sweet pepper – 2 pcs.
Eggplants – 2 pcs.
Tomatoes – 2 pcs.
Zucchini – 1 pc.
Spices, spices, salt - at your discretion
Vegetable oil
Garlic – a couple of cloves
Vegetable broth or water – 200 ml

Preparing the dish:

Wash the eggplants, peel them and cut them into slices, which we sprinkle with salt for 7 minutes to remove the bitterness. After the procedure, do not forget to rinse the vegetables
Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut them into slices
Peel the onion and chop into rings or half rings
Wash, peel and chop the carrots in any way
The pepper needs to be washed and the core removed. Grind into circles
Cut the tomatoes into slices, after washing them first
Finely chop the garlic

Assembling the dish is very simple:

Grease the pan with oil, add potatoes, garlic, eggplants, onions, carrots, peppers and tomatoes.
Be sure to lightly season each layer with spices, salt and oil.
Pour the broth into the container and place in the oven for 40-50 minutes. until vegetables are ready

It is important to say that the main vegetable used in this dish is eggplant. You can select the remaining vegetables at your discretion. Some people add celery, broccoli, asparagus and even pumpkin.

Moussaka: recipe from Yulia Vysotskaya

Yulia Vysotskaya needs no introduction. All housewives probably know this sorceress in her field. That is why we decided to tell you the recipe for this dish, which she uses in her kitchen.

We need the following products:

Beef pulp – 550 g
Eggplants – 2 pcs.
Red onion – 1.5 pcs.
Tomato paste – 1.5 tbsp. l.
Fresh mint and parsley - 1 bunch each
Butter – 1.5 tsp.
Olive oil – 3.5 tbsp. l.
A mixture of spices and herbs: cumin, hot red pepper, black pepper, paprika, salt
Cheese – 80 g
Milk – 450 ml
Wheat flour – 2.5 tbsp. l.
Ground nutmeg – 5 g

Preparing moussaka:

Eggplants should be washed and dried. Next, cut them into slices lengthwise, season with oil, spices, salt and fry
Grind the meat in a blender or meat grinder
Peel the onion and chop it into half rings and fry it in a frying pan with olive oil and butter.
Season the onion with spices, salt and add tomato paste to it.
Chop greens (parsley)
Place the minced meat and parsley in a container with the onions and fry for about 15 minutes.
Take and grind the cheese. According to the recipe, you need to use Parmesan, but the cost of this product is high and, if desired, it can be replaced with any other hard cheese

We prepare the sauce like this.

Fry all dry ingredients in a frying pan
Carefully pour milk into the pan little by little and stir
As soon as the contents boil, remove the frying pan from the heat, pour the sauce into a plate and add cheese to it, stir

We assemble the dish.

Place the eggplants in a baking dish. You need to lay them out so that the slices form the sides of the dish.
Now we put the minced meat there
Fill the mold with sauce
Place in the oven for half an hour
Decorate the already prepared dish with fresh mint leaves

Moussaka is a most interesting and delicious dish. Preparing such a delicacy is as easy as shelling pears, and the ingredients for the dish are simple. Therefore, we recommend that you definitely try this delicacy. And one more piece of advice: don’t be afraid to try something new, add your own ingredients and spices, because you are cooking primarily for yourself. Bon appetit!

Video: Moussaka in Greek

Traditional Greek moussaka consists of 3 parts: meat filling, roasted vegetables and béchamel sauce. These 3 culinary processes can be done alternately or in parallel with each other (the second option will save time).

The meat layer of moussaka takes longer to prepare than others; it is somewhat reminiscent of the famous Italian Bolognese sauce. To prepare this layer in Greece and the Middle East, lamb is most often used, which can be replaced with beef. Mixed pork and beef minced meat is less commonly used.

Peel and cut the onion into small cubes.

Fry until translucent and light golden brown, using vegetable (preferably olive) oil.

Add minced meat to the fried onions, stir.

Cook over medium heat, stirring and breaking up lumps of minced meat with a spatula.

At the same time as frying the minced meat, prepare tomato puree. To do this, blanch (hold in boiling water for 2 minutes) the tomatoes, cool under the tap, and remove the skin. Coarsely chop the blanched tomatoes and place in a blender.

Beat until smooth, rub through a sieve (optional).

Instead of fresh tomatoes in the autumn-winter period, you can use tomato paste or tomatoes canned in their own juice.

Pour the tomato into the frying pan with the meat, stir. Simmer over low heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Meanwhile, cut the eggplants and peeled potatoes into thin slices.

Place the “blue ones” in a deep bowl and sprinkle with salt. For now, set them aside so that they release the juice, which will remove the bitterness.

Place the potatoes in hot oil and fry until golden brown over medium-high heat. Place the finished potato slices on thick napkins so that excess oil is absorbed into the paper.

While the potatoes are fried and the minced meat is simmering, grate the cheese on a coarse grater. The classic moussaka recipe uses Parmesan, but it can be replaced with another type of hard cheese.

When all the potatoes are fried, return to the eggplants. Drain the brown juice that has separated from them, rinse thoroughly to remove salt. Fry until golden brown in vegetable oil. When ready, blot off the oil with napkins.

Prepare a variation of bechamel sauce. Melt the butter in a frying pan or saucepan.

Add flour after sifting.

Stir and keep the mixture on the fire for a while.

Pour in the milk in a thin stream, while stirring the mixture with a whisk.

Cook the sauce over low heat, stirring until it thickens. Add nutmeg, pepper and salt, stir and remove from heat.

Add grated cheese (about 3 tbsp), stir. The warm sauce will melt the cheese.

After 5-7 minutes, when the bechamel has cooled a little, beat the egg into it.

Mix. The finished sauce should be homogeneous, without lumps.

Add wine to almost finished minced meat (optional). While stirring, wait until all the alcohol vapors have come out. Then add spices and salt. Mix.

Place the moussaka ingredients in a heatproof dish in layers. The first layer is half of the eggplants.

Then - half the minced meat.

Cover the potatoes with the remaining meat.

Finish the layers with eggplant slices.

Pour white sauce over moussaka.

And sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake the moussaka in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Serve when cooled to room temperature, cut into portions.

Bon appetit!

Oriental cuisine is famous for its incomparable dishes, which skillfully combine vegetables and meat, generously seasoned with spices. A striking example is moussaka with potatoes, which is close to a casserole in its preparation method.

And although there are several options for preparing this meat dish, fried eggplant remains a constant component. A mandatory addition is the sauce filling, which is prepared according to special rules. White sauce is made from flour and cream.

To prevent eggplants from becoming bitter, cut them and soak them in salt water for 20 minutes.

Try preparing different versions of the dish - moussaka with potatoes is good with minced lamb (this is the meat that is traditionally included in the composition), and you can also add zucchini.

Moussaka with potatoes and minced meat

If you want the oriental dish to acquire a characteristic crust when baked, sprinkle cheese on top of the moussaka. The combination of spices will give it a special flavor.

Ingredients:

2 eggplants;
4 potatoes;
300 gr. minced meat;
50 gr. hard cheese;
1 onion;
1 large tomato;
coriander;
nutmeg;
black pepper;
salt;
150 ml. milk;
4 tbsp flour;
olive oil for frying;
2 garlic cloves.

Preparation:

Cut the eggplants into circles.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan and squeeze in garlic. Fry the eggplants.
Finely chop the onion. Mix with minced meat and fry in a frying pan. It is better not to add oil.
Cut the tomato into cubes and add to the minced meat. Simmer for a quarter of an hour. Add nutmeg, pepper and coriander as you go. Add some salt.
While the mince is cooling, prepare the sauce. Pour milk into a heated frying pan, add flour. The consistency should become slightly viscous. Pepper the sauce.
Boil the potatoes until half cooked. Cut into slices.
Place in a refractory dish in layers: eggplant, minced meat, potatoes. Pour sauce on top and sprinkle with grated cheese.
Bake for 40 minutes at 200°C.

Moussaka with potatoes and mushrooms

Mushrooms will not interfere with the dish at all. On the contrary, they will make the taste richer. Add them in a separate layer, and to enhance their flavor, you can add some mushrooms to the sauce.

Ingredients:

3 potatoes;
300 gr. mushrooms;
200 gr. minced lamb;
2 eggplants;
150 ml milk;
4 tbsp flour;
1 onion;
1 tomato;
salt;
a pinch of cinnamon;
black pepper;
garlic;
olive oil for frying.

Preparation:

Boil the potatoes until half cooked, cut into slices.
Cut the eggplants into slices and fry in oil. Pre-squeeze the garlic into the heated oil.
Finely chop the onion and mix with the minced meat. Fry. The meat should be fried until golden brown.
Cut the tomato into cubes and add to the minced meat. Add cinnamon, pepper and salt there. Simmer until done.
Cut the mushrooms into slices and fry. Leave 2-3 mushrooms. Chop them finely.
Make the sauce: pour milk into the pan, add flour and add finely chopped mushrooms. Simmer for 5-7 minutes.
Layer all the ingredients in a fireproof dish. First, place half the eggplants on the bottom, and mincemeat on them. The next layer is mushrooms. Then potatoes. Cover with a layer of eggplant. Pour in the sauce.
Send the dish to bake in a preheated oven (180°C) for 40 minutes.

Moussaka with zucchini and potatoes

Zucchini makes the taste softer and more delicate. They mix with the potatoes, giving them a slight sweetish tint. Overall, the result is an unusual and tasty dish.

Ingredients:

3 potatoes;
300 gr. minced lamb;
1 onion;
150 ml. milk;
30 gr. butter;
50 gr. cheese;
4 tbsp flour;
1 zucchini;
2 eggplants;
2 garlic cloves;
1 tomato;
black pepper;
coriander;
nutmeg;
salt;
olive oil for frying.

Preparation:

Boil the potatoes and grate them.
Peel and boil the zucchini, grate and mix into a homogeneous mass with the potatoes. Add a little salt.
Finely chop the onion and add to the minced meat. Fry it. Add chopped tomato and spices with salt. Simmer for about half an hour.
Cut the eggplants into circles.
Pour olive oil into a heated frying pan and squeeze in the garlic. Fry the eggplants.
Separately, pour milk into the pan, add flour and add butter. Cook the sauce until it becomes slightly viscous.
Place layers in the roasting pan. First the eggplants (half the total mass), then the minced meat, and top it with the potato mass. Eggplants again. Pour over the sauce and sprinkle grated cheese on top.
Bake for 40 minutes at 180°C.

Surprise your family with an oriental dish. Moussaka, despite the traditional set of ingredients, allows you to show your imagination and add other products, revealing new sides to familiar ingredients.

Moussaka is a popular dish in Greek cuisine. The dish is high in calories and incredibly tasty, served in every Greek restaurant.

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

There are many varieties of eggplant and meat casserole, and there is always room for your own culinary and taste preferences. After all, a wonderful cap of French bechamel sauce was added to the Greek moussaka - and the taste of the dish only benefited! With traditional Greek yogurt instead of sauce, moussaka is just as wonderful.

Homemade moussaka recipe

The recipe includes the basic components of Greek moussaka (eggplant, meat, bechamel, cheese) with a little improvisation (no nutmeg, but sun-dried tomatoes). The classic recipe is presented at the end of the page.

Ingredients

eggplants - 1 kg
onion - 2
minced beef (lamb) - 500 grams
tomatoes - 3 medium
sun-dried tomatoes - 4-5 pcs.
dry red wine - 150 ml
cheese - 100 grams
butter - 70 grams
milk - 1 glass
flour - 1.5 tbsp. spoons
spices, salt, pepper, olive oil

How to cook moussaka

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Eggplant for moussaka.
The basis of the moussaka is layers of eggplant, due to which the appetizer holds its shape when served portionwise. For a perfect serving, take young fruits without ripened seeds.

To peel or not to peel eggplants for moussaka?
In a traditional dish, vegetables are used with the skin, but you can also peel them completely or remove them in strips. When baked, the skin will become soft and practically not noticeable in the dish. If you decide to leave, then choose eggplants without dark spots.

How to cut?
The shape of the cut does not play a big role - cut lengthwise to get plates, or crosswise into circles. The main thing is that the eggplant pieces fit well into the mold, without leaving empty spaces between them. Take this into account when choosing the cutting shape. The thickness of the pieces is 0.5-1 cm.

Then the eggplants should be thermally processed.
How? They can be blanched, baked in the oven, or fried in a frying pan (grill pan).

If you bake in the oven or fry, place the chopped eggplants in a bowl, add salt and leave for 20 minutes to release the bitterness. Rinse under running water and dry. Then fry with a little oil. It is worth remembering that eggplants absorb a lot of oil when frying, and when they are ready, they release the oil back. Knowing this feature, use a minimum of fat - only to lubricate the bottom of the pan, and then place the eggplants on a sieve to allow the oil to drain.

To bake in the oven, brush both sides of the eggplant slices with olive oil.

Minced meat for moussaka.
Fry the minced beef in olive oil. Stir all the time and break up any lumps.

Peel and chop the onion. Cut the tomatoes in half and grate the pulp on a coarse grater, discard the skin. Add onions and tomatoes to the minced meat.

Stir and continue cooking for 5-7 minutes. Then pour in the wine. Which wine is better? Opinions differ on this matter, choose according to your taste - red, white, or even brandy.

Add spices to the minced meat: bay leaf, oregano, allspice, cinnamon, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon zest, chili pepper flakes - to your taste.

Turn the heat to low and evaporate the liquid, bringing the minced meat until cooked and remembering to stir from time to time. The finished minced meat should be dry and the liquid should be completely evaporated.

Prepare the béchamel sauce.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour; a whisk works great for this. Aim for a thick roux (flour and milk base). Set the heat under the saucepan to minimum. Let the butter and flour almost boil.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour in the milk in a thin stream while stirring constantly. Warm the milk slightly before adding.

The sauce will change before your eyes: at first it will be liquid, and after a couple of minutes it will begin to turn into a thick, creamy consistency.

So, the base sauce is ready, but it can be supplemented with grated cheese or egg yolk, and seasoned with nutmeg.

When all the components of the moussaka are ready, you can start assembling. For this purpose you will need a baking dish with sides.

Assembly and laying out.
First, form the bottom layer of eggplant, placing the largest pieces tightly together.

Sprinkle with grated cheese.

The next layer consists of minced meat.

Cover the minced meat with a layer of eggplant. If the shape and quantity of products allows, the styling can be increased by a couple more layers. The last layer is definitely eggplant - they are sprinkled with cheese and poured with bechamel sauce.

Sprinkle the top with cheese.

Cover the pan with foil. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Serving moussaka.
Before serving, moussaka should (if you have the patience) cool down: lukewarm or cold, it is perfectly cut into portioned pieces.

Other moussaka recipes. What Moussaka May Include

Vegetables. Some recipes for Greek moussaka include potatoes, which must be prepared in the same way as zucchini (chopped and fried or baked). Usually it is placed at the base of the casserole to give stability to the multilayer structure. The presence of potatoes does not particularly affect the taste, but a high-calorie dish with potatoes becomes even more satisfying and high-calorie.

Ground meat. Classic moussaka recipes use minced lamb or a mixture of minced lamb and beef, but if you like pork and beef, then cook with it.

Sauce. For the base of the sauce, you can use not only wheat flour, but also corn flour (bechamel with corn flour is pure improvisation, and it is very tasty and unusual).

You can make portioned mini-moussaka: cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, carefully remove part of the pulp, and blanch the boat in salted water; fry the minced meat with the removed pulp, pieces of tomatoes, chopped onions and seasonings; put the minced meat in a boat, pour sauce (yogurt or bechamel) on top; put it in a mold, add a little water and bake it in the oven.

Classic Greek moussaka recipe

Perhaps I should have started with this moussaka recipe since it's considered basic. Includes, in addition to eggplant, potatoes. Nutmeg is included in both minced meat and bechamel.

(for 7 people)

Ingredients

For the base

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

For minced meat

850 grams ground beef
1 onion
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 butter
400 grams of baked milk
800 grams of water - to dilute the milk
40 grams of grated easy-melting hard cheese
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon nutmeg powder
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

How to cook moussaka in Greek

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 salted water for 20 minutes to remove the bitterness.

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

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

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

6. Add grated tomatoes, salt, pepper, nutmeg to the pan and pour in 2 cups of water.

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

8. As soon as the potatoes, eggplants and minced meat are ready, start filling the pan. Place a layer of potatoes on the bottom and a layer of eggplant on top of it. Place the minced meat on the eggplants. Place another layer of eggplant on top of the minced meat, and another layer of potatoes on top of the eggplant.

How to make bechamel with eggs

Dilute the baked milk with water. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Once the butter has melted, add 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.

Turn up the heat. Remove the pan from the heat as soon as the mixture comes to a boil.

An alternative way to prepare bechamel is to slowly add grated cheese and stir until desired thickness. Then you don't need to sprinkle cheese on top of the casserole.

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

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

Recipe with potatoes and zucchini

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

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

Preparation. Cut the eggplants and zucchini into slices, place 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 the potatoes in their jackets. Peel and cut into slices no more than 5 mm thick. Fry finely chopped onion and ringed pepper (remove the seeds first) until soft and slightly brown. Add 1 clove of garlic pressed through a press. Fry the ground beef in a frying pan with butter, seasoning it with spices, pepper and salt.

Make tomato sauce. Peel the tomatoes, cut into small pieces, mix with paste 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.

Place in the mold in layers: first - a layer of potatoes, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, then a layer of minced meat, then a layer of eggplant, pour over half the tomato sauce and lay out the fried onions and peppers, sprinkle with breadcrumbs with herbs and cheese, then a layer of zucchini, pour over 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 a terribly high-calorie dish. And at the same time delicious. Those who don't eat meat will love this vegetarian casserole recipe. To be precise, 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), onion - 2, olive oil, potatoes - 5, green beans - 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 the potatoes in their skins, peel and grate them on a coarse grater. Cook beans and rice separately. Cut the beans into small pieces. Layer in pan, starting with the potatoes.

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