My favorite Greek traditional food is Moussaka

Moussaka is an aubergine and minced meat based dish of the Balkans, Eastern Mediterranean, and the Middle East. The best known variation outside the region is the Greek one.

The name comes from the Arabic: مسقعة musaqqaʿa 'chilled This name is used in Greek cuisine (μουσακάς), Turkish (musakka), and the South Slavic languages (musaka/мусака). Other languages call it simply "eggplant casserole"

INGREDIENTS

4-5 eggplants½ kilo  minced meat

2-3 tomatoes5 teacup olive oil2 chopped onions

1 garlic clove1 bay leaf

Oil for frying½ teacup grated Parmesan cheese

Flour2-3 cups Bechamel sauce

Salt & Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Heat the cup of oil in a pot and saute the onions (chopped) in it.Add the minced meat and continue to saute for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, the bay leaf, the garlic clove, the salt and pepper and allow the mixture to boil for about one hour.Wash the eggplants and trim off their stems.Cut them in round slices and then let them soak in salted water for approximately one hour. Drain their slices, coat them with flour and fry them in very hot oil (for a lighter version, cook the slices in the oven for 15', in 200C degrees).In a pan, place a layer of eggplants' slices, salt and pepper and a layer of the minced meat mixture. Add another layer of eggplants and minced meat mixture.Pour the bechamel sauce over the last layer.Sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese and bake at a high temperature for about 2 5 minutes.Take out the "moussaka" and cut it in square pieces.

EXTRA INFO

Most versions are based primarily on sautéed eggplant (aubergine) and tomato, usually with minced meat. The Greek version includes layers of meat and aubergine topped with a white sauce/Béchamel sauce and baked. Turkish musakka, on the other hand, is not layered. Instead, it is prepared with sautéed aubergines, green peppers, tomatoes, onions, and minced meat. It is eaten with cacık and pilaf. There are also variants with zucchini, carrots and potatoes. The Serbian version and Bulgarian version use potatoes instead of aubergines, pork mince

and the top layer is yogurt mixed with raw eggs and a couple of spoons of flour. In the Arab world, moussaka is a cooked salad made up primarily of tomatoes and aubergine, similar to Italian caponata, and is usually served cold as a mezze dish.

The modern Greek version was probably invented by Tselementes in the 1920s.[4] It has three layers: a bottom layer of sautéed aubergine slices; a middle layer of cooked ground beef cooked with onion, garlic, chopped tomatoes, herbs, and spices (cinnamon, allspice and black pepper); and a top layer of béchamel sauce or egg custard. The composed dish is baked until the top layer is browned. Moussaka is usually served lukewarm.

In Serbia and Bulgaria there is also a three-layer version: the bottom layer consists of ground pork and beef, the middle layer slices of potatoes, the top layer a custard. Each layer is cooked on its own and layered in a pan and baked until the top layer is browned.

In the rest of the Balkans, the top layer is often a custard. This is the version which was introduced into the UK by Elizabeth David's Mediterranean Cookery and where it remains as the "classic" presentation. Grated cheese or bread crumbs are often sprinkled on top.

There are variations on this basic recipe, sometimes with no sauce, sometimes with other vegetables. The most common variant in Greece may include courgette (zucchini), part-fried potatoes or sautéed mushrooms in addition to the aubergine. There is even a fast-day version in the Greek cookbook by Tselementes which includes neither meat nor béchamel sauce, just vegetables (ground aubergine is used instead of ground meat), tomato sauce, and bread crumbs. In some cases, moussaka is also decoratively layered on top of grape leaves (a common ingredient in Greek cuisine, also used for example in dolmades).

Michopoulos Dionisios

Latsari Eleftheria

Fourouzidou Theodora