A vegan potato eggplant casserole inspired by Moussaka

Hey there!

 

This is a recipe I prepared last week and it was inspired by the Greek cuisine, which I absolutely adore. I haven’t actually been to Greece. Yet a few years ago I got immersed into the Greek food culture for the first time. My mum, my sister and I were attending a wedding in Hamburg and the rehearsal dinner took place at this amazing Greek place in Altona. Since then I’ve been obsessed with dolmades, feta and all those other great things that come with the Greek cooking culture.

 

For this recipe my aim was to create something similar to Moussaka yet I wanted to keep it meat and dairy free hence vegan. I decided to go with two different layers. A potato layer and an eggplant layer. For the eggplant layer I went with similar flavours to the ones used in actual Moussaka, which are cinnamon, mint and bay leaves. I also added some Marsala. I actually wanted to use ordinary red wine but since we didn’t have an open bottle standing around and I also absolutely love the flavour Marsala enhances any dish with I came to the conclusion that I could totally omit red wine.

The potato layer is even more basic than the eggplant one. It only consist of four ingredients, which are potatoes, obviously, oregano, garlic and olive oil.

When both components were ready I layered them in a casserole dish and just for the looks I topped it with some halved cherry tomatoes, then I baked it for about 20 minutes so the flavours had the chance to really infuse with each other.

An ordinary Moussaka is usually topped with a thick layer of béchamel, which is obviously not very much dairy free. Therefore I decided to drizzle the baked Moussaka with a sauce made of oregano, cashew butter and some nutritional yeast to also experience the lovely creaminess ordinary Moussaka would come with.

 

The outcome of this dinner was a true delight and I personally think it does kind of resemble Moussaka, yet if you want the real experience you either have to omit your principles and eat some meat and dairy or supress any Moussaka craving. It is up to you. I personally find this version absolutely divine and I can only recommend it to any lover of the Greek cuisine. Trust me you’ll be blown away, well so was my mum who I was having dinner with that night. I’m only left with giving you the recipe and now it is your turn to put on an apron and get cooking.

 

• 4 eggplants
• 280g tomato paste
• 400g potatoes
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 onions
• 2dl Marsala
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp dried mint
• 1 bay leave
• 1tbs oregano
• olive oil

 

optional topping

• water
• salt
• 2tbs nutritional yeast
• 2tbs cashew butter
• water
• salt
• oregano 1 tsp

 

1. Boil your potatoes until nearly done, which will take about 8 minutes, when they’re ready drain them and put a side
2. Meanwhile chop up 2 of your garlic cloves and your onions
3. Also chop your eggplants into small cubes
4. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic and onion
5. When the onion and the garlic have softened and browned a little, add the aubergine and lower the temperature to medium and fry until the eggplant has browned slightly
6. Then add the tomato paste, cinnamon, dried mint, the bay leave, also add 2 dl of water and your Marsala, salt to taste
7. Lower the temperature to medium low, cover the eggplant mixture with a lid and let it cook for about 30 minutes
8. Now slice your boiled potatoes into medium thick slices and then marinate them in 2tbs of olive oil and 1 tbs of oregano as well as a chopped up garlic clove, also add salt and pepper
9. When your eggplant mixture is ready then start layering your Moussaka. Start with a layer of eggplant sauce, then add some potato slices and continue doing so until both of your mixtures are used up
10. Now bake for 20 minutes at 180°C, If you want to you can also top your Moussaka with some fresh tomatoes before baking
11. While your Moussaka is baking you can make the topping, just stir together 2tbs of cashew butter, 2tbs of nutritional yeast, some water and salt and oregano
12. When your Moussaka has finished baking you can drizzle your cashew sauce on top and well then you’re done.

 

Voila, you just created some amazing vegan delightfulness. Wouldn’t this be a great dinner for tonight? It doesn’t even require many ingredients and you could totally omit the cashew sauce if don’t happen to have some cashew butter standing around in your pantry. Well and the rest of the ingredients is really super easy to find.

Have a nice week

 

Bisous

Fanny, the foodie