GREEK RECIPES: COOKING FOR 1: M O U S S A K A: VEGETARIAN / VEGAN

M O U S S A K A:

VEGETARIAN / VEGAN HOME COOKING FOR 1:

There aren’t any sources to establish when this dish appeared first, in old recipe books shows that is known since last decades of 19^th century. Common dish in the cities of Heraklion and Chania and much later beginning of 20^th century in bigger villages in Crete as for the hard working house ladies living in the country side was a difficult dish requiring lot of time to prepare time didn’t have and a great many cooking utensils for that period.

First version was thick friend potatoes topped with cashed meat or mushrooms (during the feasts) 

and grated cheese.
Later on added eggplants and zucchinis and much later after the second world war the béchamel topping 

You need:

For the mushrooms in tomato sauce:

4  mushrooms

2 medium size tomatoes cut in cubes (if you can’t find fresh ripe tomato use the tomatoes in tin you can get at the supermarket), 

One shot of wine, (whatever available: white, red, rose)

half a wine glass of olive oil or if you dot have it use sun oil or corn oil, 

one middle size onion finely cut or grate it,

A little mint

A little parsley

salt and pepper

Directions: 

Put in a pan the grate onions and the oil. 

Live them for approximately 5/7 minutes so onions soften. 

Add the mushrooms and live it cooks for about 10 minutes turn it from time to time to be cooked all over. 

Add the wine, and a big pinch of salt, oregano, and a big pinch of pepper. Let the wine be boiling away and 

add the tomato or tomato sauce 

Mint and parsley finely chopped

and cook it for about 15 minutes more until most of the juice goes away. 

Take the pan off the heat. The mushroom filling is ready

For the vegetables: 

1 Eggplant cut in slices of 1 cm

1 big or 2 middle size potatoes (both enough to full your pan) Pill the potatoes and cut them in slices of 1 cm (same way as Eggplant shown on the photo above).

 Don’t forget rub the Eggplant slices first with salt and leave them for half an hour so bitterness go away, then do the cuts in the flesh so oil can come through cook them and make them soft. 

Put them under running water and dry them with cuisine paper. 

Fry both potatoes and Eggplants. 

First the potatoes, then Eggplants because potatoes don’t leave any smell or left over and place them in a dish with cuisine paper to keep off the oil.

Place in the pan the potatoes first and on top of them the Eggplants in lays. 

Cover the vegetables with the cooked mushroom filling

Sprinkle on top with some grated cheese for the vegetarians or vegan parmesan for the vegans

For the béchamel (the cream on top): 
1/3 litter of milk (almond - coconut or soya milk for the vegan follwers),1 egg for the vgetarians / skip the egg for the vegan,  1 table spoons of flour, 1 full table spoon of butter or margarine whatever you have, 200 grams of grated yellow cheese (gouda or similar) salt, pepper.
NOTICE:
For the vegan otion we use the vegan cheese we can find at most grosseries in Greece and skip the egg. 

For milk we use almond, coconut milk or Soya milk

Directions: 
In a pot put the butter or margarine and 2 full table spoons of flour. 
Add slowly the 3/4 of the milk turning continuously with a beater so both mix well. Add the egg, salt and pepper beating continuously until all being one mixture.

Put a pan in low hit. Put in the pan the butter and one table spoon of flour. 

Turn continuously the two ingredients with the heater to be mixed well. 

Add slowly the rest of the milk to be mixed to a cream and start adding slowly the mixture you have on the pot to turn it to a hot cream. It will take you around 15 minutes to come so. 

When you see the cream comes thicker you add in the mixture the half of the grated cheese. 

Keep turning the heater until the cream start blowing.

Take the pot with the cream and cover the pan with the vegetables and mushroom filling

Put the pan in a pre-heated oven and cook it for aprox. 25-30 minutes until you see the top have burned points. 

Moussaka is ready. 

ENJOY!

Questons? Feel free to contact: info@portoclub.gr