Greek moussaka (moussaka)

Description

Greek casserole of eggplant, potatoes and minced meat with bechamel sauce ... mmm. There are as many moussaka recipes as there are housewives in Greece - each has its own dish - similar and unique at the same time. The word moussaka comes from the Arabic musaqqa` ("chilled", from the verb saqqaʿa - to cool), which came to other languages through Greek.

Cooking

Step 1

Prepare the sauce: melt the butter over medium heat, add flour, grind-stir with a wooden spoon and fry, stirring, until the flour begins to curdle and darken a little, remove from heat. Pour cold milk in small doses and constantly stir the sauce until smooth, so that there are no lumps. As soon as the sauce has become smooth and homogeneous, pour in the remaining milk, put the saucepan on medium heat and, stirring constantly, cook for 5-7 minutes. after boiling. Remove from heat, salt, season with pepper and nutmeg, mix well and pour into a clean bowl. Brush cling film with oil and press onto the surface of the sauce.

Step 2

Wash the eggplant and cut lengthwise into thin slices. Put in a colander and salt each layer, leave for 15 minutes, rinse and dry. Fry on both sides on Teflon without oil or (as I do) grease with a brush with oil and grill on a wire rack in MW in grill mode for several minutes. Peel and cut into small cubes onion, bell pepper and tomato, fry onion and pepper in a small amount of vegetable oil, add minced meat, salt, pepper, add dry herbs and fry a little, add tomato and simmer for another 15 minutes. At the end add chopped greens ( I had dried basil and thyme sprigs).

Step 3

Peel the potatoes and cut into circles, lightly fry on both sides in a small amount of oil. Put a layer of eggplant, minced meat into the mold, again a layer of eggplant, potatoes and pour everything with sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese on top and put in a well-heated oven (up to 200 ° C).

Step 4

Bake 30-40 min. until golden brown.