Moussaka or Messaka? Greek or Egyptian? Learn how to make the shared Mediterranean dish

Ingredients

For Garnishing:

Mousakka is an eggplant and tomato-based dish popular in the Balkans and the Middle East. It has many versions and vary largely across regions, adapting to local flavour. One of the most famous being the Greek recipe that uses bechamel sauce. Here is a step-by-step guide to the other well known variation -  Eygptian Arabic Moussaka.

Step 1: Heat a sauce pan and add olive oil. Add chopped garlic to it and stir until it turns golden brown.

Step 2: Add sliced onions and mix it well with the garlic and oil.

Step 3: Add the cut capsicum and mix them well.

Step 4: Add cherry tomatoes and mix all the vegetables. You should not let the vegetables get soggy, the idea is to keep it a little crunchy at this stage so that when we put it to bake, vegetables retain a slight crunch.

Step 5: Add the spices and minced meat now - salt, black pepper, cumin powder, coriander powder, paprika, chilli powder and minced meat.

Step 6: Mix all the spices, minced meat and vegetables well with the garlic and oil.

Step 7: Add the tomato purée and give it a good stir. Keep it on a low flame and let it cook.

Step 8: Fill a big bowl with corn flour and toss the cut eggplants into it. This coating ensures that oil does not seep into the eggplants while deep frying and alos remains slightly crisp on the outside.

Step 9: In a frying pan, add vegetable oil and heat it. Then, using a deep frying ladle fry the eggplants on a high flame.

Step 10: Check on the vegetable base, add chopped parsley and fresh mint to it and stir well. Turn off the flame.

Step 11: Simultaneously, check if the eggplants have turned slightly golden brown and then remove them carefully with the frying ladle. You may hold the ladle for a few seconds over the pan to drain the excess oil.

Step 12: Add the fried eggplants to the tomato gravy and mix well.

Step 13: In a microwave safe bowl, empty the gravy and garnish it with tomato and green chilli, as shown. The chef used a wood oven to prepare this dish.

Step 14: You can drizzle some oil on top at this point. Then place the bowl in a microwave oven for about 1 minute at 250 degree.

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