The summer and autumn period of time for culinary masters is the most favorable time when almost any country can boast of an abundance of vegetable dishes. Today we want to focus on an amazingly beautiful vegetable - eggplant, which conquered absolutely all existing world cuisines with its taste. With the use of "blue ones", as they are also commonly called, a casserole with a very interesting name - moussaka is very popular. Moreover, this dish is national at the same time in several countries. Moussaka is proud of Greece, Moldova, Bulgaria, and indeed the whole Eastern cuisine, however, the variety of recipes for preparing, for example, Greek moussaka can be a long time to be surprised. We offer a short excursion into the world of exotic vegetable casserole with minced meat and amazing white Bechamel sauce.
"Maguma" - was the progenitor of the current moussaka - ancient Arabic manuscripts testify to this, in which culinary records about this dish have been preserved, something remotely resembling Mrs. moussaka in a modern version. Naturally, no one knows the exact date of the appearance of the casserole, but some sources contain information that ancient Greek culinary keeps the recipe for classic eggplant moussaka for about three millennia. There is also an assumption that the Arabic word "musaqqa" served as the basis for the name of our dish, and in translation it means "chilled".
By the way, chilled moussaka lends itself perfectly to serving and remains as tasty as a freshly cooked, slightly cooled dish. Another version of the origin of the exotic casserole says that "moussaka" is translated as "juiciness" and, most likely, it is reliable, because in terms of juiciness this multi-layered dish surpasses all existing casseroles in the world. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a great desire to surprise your friends with Greek cuisine, then to your attention is an interesting recipe for eggplant moussaka - read carefully, watch and repeat after us.
Bechamel Sauce Ingredients
The veal must be cleaned of films, washed and cut into small pieces
The meat should be chopped, and it can be ground or chopped.
Peel the onion and cut it smaller.
Fry the onion in vegetable oil and add the minced meat. If desired, you can pour a little dry white wine and season the minced meat with cinnamon.
Stew minced meat for about 15 minutes, closed.
Potato tubers should be peeled and washed.
Cut each potato into rings about 0.5 cm thick.
Fry the potato plates in vegetable oil on both sides for about 3 minutes.
Put a layer of potatoes in a moussaka baking dish.
Eggplants should be washed, dried and cut lengthwise into plates half a centimeter thick.
Put each eggplant tongue on the board, sprinkle with salt and leave to let the juice in for 5-7 minutes.
Wipe the tongues dry and fry on each side in the same way as potatoes.
Put the fried eggplants on paper towels and remove excess fat.
For the bechamel sauce, heat the butter in a saucepan.
Add a little bit of flour.
Fry the flour in oil for about 3 minutes.
Pour milk in portions and let the sauce boil, stirring all the time.
Set the fire to a minimum and season the bechamel with salt.
It is customary to cook the sauce for 10 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Put eggplant in a bowl.
Put the stewed minced meat on top of the potatoes in a baking dish.
Sprinkle moussaka with chopped Parmean.
Now it's time to spread the eggplant in a dense layer.
Fill the casserole with white sauce.
We spread the plates of chopped tomatoes.
Sprinkle everything with cheese again.
Another layer of eggplant.
Top the moussaka with bechamel sauce.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and set the moussaka to brown.
After a couple of minutes, reduce the temperature to 160 - 180 degrees and cook the casserole for about 60 minutes.
After the allotted time has passed, the casserole will become higher and it will need to be sprinkled with a little cheese. After that, put the moussaka back in the oven and let it bake for about 5 minutes.
You can serve the dish to the table warm and cold, but the Greeks themselves still prefer to use it as a cold appetizer.
Variations of the dish
A royally appetizing dish in appearance has not only a unique taste, but is also able to saturate the body with all the necessary substances. The vitamin complex of the present vegetables is perfectly combined with dietary veal and white sauce carbohydrates. By the way, minced meat, which is present in this recipe, is digested much easier than whole pieces of meat - this gives the body the necessary supply of proteins and amino acids for a long time without harm to the digestive organs.
At the end of the preparation, I would like to thank you, dear readers, for your patience and curiosity. Exotic dishes, albeit often arouse curiosity, but at the same time they frighten with their unusualness. Our moussaka, although prepared in the Greek version, can easily fit into your usual diet and become as beloved as everything else.