Turkish Moussaka - Patlıcan Musakka

5 from 9 votes

Turkish Moussaka - Patlıcan Musakka

Turkish Moussaka (or Patlıcan Musakka - Patlıcan Oturtma) is an authentic dish in Turkish cuisine that features layers of eggplant, ground meat, and tomato sauce

Prep Time45

Cook Time1 30

Total Time2 15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Turkish

Diet: Low Lactose

Servings: people

Calories: 694kcal

Author: Ayla Clulee

Equipment

1 kitchen scale
1 Sharp knife
1 Measuring cups
1 measuring spoons
1 Rubber spatula
1 frying pan
1 (25 cm) dia oven dish

Ingredients

4 medium eggplants (1 ¾ lbs - 800 g in total)
½ cup vegetable or sunflower oil (for frying)
10 oz ground lamb or beef (300 grams)
1 large onion (finely chopped)
1-2 Turkish green chili (or ½ green bell pepper)
½ red chili (or ½ teaspoon chili flakes)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
½ tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cumin powder
2 tablespoon tomato paste
3 medium tomatoes (diced)
3 ⅕ oz dried chickpeas (90 grams) (or 7 oz - 200 grams cooked chickpeas)
1 ½ cups vegetable, chicken or beef stock (350 ml)
⅓ cup chopped parsley

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Heat a frying pan on medium heat and add the vegetable oil.
Peel the aubergines - eggplants in stripes and slice them ½ " (1 cm) thick.
When the oil is hot, fry the aubergines - eggplants for 2-3 minutes on both sides until lightly browned and slightly softened. Do it in batches and add more oil if needed.
Place the aubergines - eggplants onto a colander to drain the excess oil.
When you finish frying all the aubergines - eggplants, use the same pan to prepare the meat sauce.
To make the meat sauce, add the ground meat to the pan and place it on medium heat.
Cook the meat until brown, and it releases its fat, stirring occasionally to break the ground meat down into small pieces.
Add onions, peppers, chili, and garlic, sauté until translucent then add freshly ground black pepper, cumin and salt. Sauté for 30 more seconds.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute then add the chopped tomatoes.
Add the stock and chickpeas, stir well and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and add chopped parsley.
Preheat the fan oven to 180° C (360° F).
To assemble the moussaka, layer half of the aubergines - eggplants on the bottom of an oven dish size 22 cm-24 cm (9" - 10") diameter and then sprinkle some salt.
Spoon half of the meat mixture on the aubergines - eggplants and spread evenly on top.
Layer the rest of the aubergines - eggplants on the meat filling and sprinkle some more salt before topping them up with the rest of the meat filling.
Cover the dish with tin foil or a lid and put it in the hot oven. Cook for 1 hour then remove the lid/tin foil and cook for another 45 minutes or until the aubergines - eggplants are softened and the sauce has thickened.

Notes

To assemble the moussaka, layer half of the aubergines on the bottom of an oven dish size 22 cm-24 cm (9" - 10") diameter and then sprinkle some salt.
Aubergine absorbs like a sponge so be careful when frying the aubergines in oil. Make sure the oil is piping hot before frying them.
Put just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan which will be absorbed by the first batch of aubergines.
Add oil for each batch and try not to exceed the amount stated in the recipe.
Leave your aubergine slices on a colander after frying for a few minutes to get rid of excess oil.

Nutrition