Moussaka is Greek or Turkish food which is an oven-cooked dish that has layers of eggplants, tomato sauce and white sauce.
Since our oven is broken, I cook it in a skillet. If you have a kitchen burner (fire thrower), you can burn the cheese on the top with it to finish. Today, I am going to use Panko (bread crumbs) instead of cheese, so that we can enjoy the crispiness without the kitchen burner.
Ingredients for Moussaka cooked in a 8 inch Skillet:
- Eggplants: about 250 g (today I use 2 Chinese eggplants)
- Feta Cheese: 30 to 50 g
- Panko (Bread Crumbs): 1 tablespoons
- Olive Oil
- Parsley
Tomato Sauce
- Canned Tomato: 1 can
- Minced Beef: 200g
- Carrots: 2 small size
- Onion: 2 small size
- Mushrooms: 3-4 pieces
- Garlic: 1 clove
- Bay Leaf: 1 piece
- Nutmeg Powder
- Cinnamon Powder
- Salt and Black Pepper
White Sauce
- All Purpose Flour: 3 tablespoons
- Butter: 20 g
- Milk: 300ml
Preparation:
- Put the Panko (bread crumbs) in a Skillet, roast until it gets brown
- Slice the eggplants and sautéed in a Skillet with some oil
How to Make the Moussaka in a Skillet:
Tomato Sauce
- Finely chop up the carrots, onions, mushrooms and garlic
- Heat a little oil in a frying pan (you need a bigger pan than 8 inches for this process), cook garlic, beef, salt, black pepper, nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder, and chopped vegetables on a low heat
- Add canned tomato and bay leaf, simmer it on medium heat until it gets consistency that you like
- Season with Salt and pepper if it’s needed (i add my red paprika paste which contains salt instead)
White Sauce
Put all of the ingredients for white sauce in a saucepan, cook on a low heat, constantly stirring with a whisk until it gets the consistency that you like.
The white sauce for Moussaka tends to be thicker than the one for other cuisine, but please remember that the white sauce will be thicker when it cools down. So it’s better to take it off the heat just before you get to your favourite consistency.
Cook Moussaka in a Skillet
1. In a skillet, spread ⅓ of tomato sauce and put white ⅓ of white sauce on top of it
2. Place the sliced eggplants and put ½ of the feta cheese in the gap between the eggplants
3. Spread tomato sauce and white sauce, and then place the eggplants, feta cheese again
4. Pour rest of tomato sauce and spread rest of white sauce over it
5. Sprinkle the browned bread crumbs on the top
6. Put the lid on the skillet and cook it on a medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes until the inside gets hot.
7. You can serve the Moussaka in the skillet on the table, after adding chopped parsley on to top.
