I love this dish--a great vegan take on the Greek classic (a kind of Greek lasagna). I am very fond of eggplant, and they work particularly well here.
This recipe was given to me by my friend Liz McLean, hence the wonderfully alliterative name of the recipe! (It's her title, so I have to give her credit for that!) This is a very tasty, warming, spicy dish – all the flavor and satisfaction of a traditional moussaka, without any of the meat or dairy. It is a very warming, comforting dinner, best eaten in the winter or in cold weather, I find. Or you can eat it in summer too, but you may find it a little bit heavy! The topping is quite rich. It is an impressive-looking dish for entertaining, but quite easy and straightforward to put together. The most time-consuming part of it is the preparation of the eggplant (they need to be salted in advance to draw out a lot of the fluid. If you don't do that they do tend to taste rather "spongy", and take longer to cook).
- 1 large eggplant, about 350 g
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 225 g onions
- 30 ml olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 350 g vegan mince
- 15 g plain flour
- 45 ml tomato paste
- 397 g can chopped tomatoes
- 5 ml cumin seeds
- 5 ml freshly chopped rosemary
- 150 ml soy yogurt
- 2.5 ml ground nutmeg
- 25 g vegan Parmesan
- Slice the aubergine and sprinkle with salt.
- Leave in a colander for 30 mins.
- Chop the onion.Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan and sauté the onions and crushed garlic until golden brown. Add veggie mince, flour, tomato paste and about 30 ml water.
- Cook gently for 2 minutes, stirring continuously before adding tomatoes.
- Add the cumin seeds and rosemary and seasoning. If the mixture is too thick add a little more water. Simmer for about 15 mins.
- Meanwhile rinse and drain the aubergines, grill until golden brown.
- In a large 1.1 liter greased ovenproof dish place layers of aubergine, alternating with mince mixture.Mix together the yoghurt, nutmeg and small amount of olive oil and pour over the mince and aubergines.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan and cook at 180 C, 350 F, for about 40 mins or until golden brown.
- Garnish with fresh herbs.
- Serve with a green salad and garlic bread, or pita bread. Enjoy!
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Great title followed by a great recipe!
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Thank you Akanksha! Yes, I love that title too, hopefully it gets people's attention!
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Congrats Veganara for making top posts!