Moussaka is a traditional Balkan and Middle Eastern dish that includes eggplant, potato and meat. You could certainly compare this to lasagne, as it is served in a similar way, but this dish has no pasta. Instead, it has a bottom layer of eggplant and meat doused in an aromatic tomato sauce then leveled with a layer of spiced creamy potato. 

This recipe is more calories friendly, and certainly not your average Moussaka! All the ingredients are raw, with no meat, and because I hate cooking for long periods of time, this only took me 30mins. 

I used eggplant slices as the main layers, shredded beetroot and chopped spinach for the stuffing, freshly made pink sauce with Oatly in between the layers and minced brown mushrooms, beetroot, okra and mozzarella cheese for the garnish! I popped this in the oven for 15mins and was set for a light 60 calories per serving lunch! Don’t forget to tag me or send me your recreations if you make this. I would love to share!

Serves 2 | 30 minutes | 

Ingredients:

• 1 whole eggplant (sliced into circles, and semi-cooked. You can do this by frying the eggplant with no oil)
• 4 small okras, sliced (be sure to wash them clean before slicing them as they do produce a sticky goo)
• ½ beetroot (shredded)
• 1 cup button mushrooms (sliced)
• 1 cup cooked spinach (chopped)
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• Coriander (optional) for the garnish

Homemade pink sauce:

• A handful of cherry tomatoes (diced)
• 1 ripe tomato (diced)
• 3 cloves of garlic (shredded)
• ½ onion (diced)
• ½ cup of cooking cream, or non-GMO soy cooking cream (Orasi) for a vegan option (Oatly is an option too)
• 1 tbsp of freshly chopped basil
• 1 tsp of dried oregano
• 1 tsp of dried thyme
• 1 tsp of dried chilli flakes
• ½ tsp of pepper
• ½ tsp of salt
• ½ tsp of sage (optional)
• 3 tbsps of unrefined olive oil

Method: 

1. To make the homemade pink sauce, heat the oil in a wide non-stick pan
2. Fry the onions until it turns golden brown, and fragrant.
3. Add the garlic and saute for another 2-3 minutes
4. Add the cherry tomatoes, ripe tomato, and spices. Sauté for another 5-7 minutes until the water evaporates and the mixture becomes into a thick aromatic paste
5. Stir in the cooking cream (vegan option is Oatly or Orasi soy cooking cream) and leave it to simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
6. Set this sauce aside to cool down.

7. To prepare the moussaka, you would first need to sauté the beetroot in a dry pan with no oil until the water has evaporated.
8. The same would need to be done with the button mushrooms. What I normally do is sauté the mushrooms with 3-4 tbsps of olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic (minced) and a tsp of oregano, thyme and chilli flakes. I sauté the mushrooms until they are dark in colour/when the water has evaporated.
9. Once you have sautéd the beetroot and mushrooms, in a rectangular baking dish, align the bottom of the dish with the sliced, semi-cooked eggplant.
10. Lightly brush this layer with the pink sauce.
11. Place the cooked spinach as the next layer, and then lightly brush the pink sauce on top of the spinach
12. Add another layer of the beetroot and mushroom, and repeat step 10. If you have any remaining eggplant, add this as an extra layer and pour in the remaining pink sauce on the top.
13. Next, sprinkle the okra over the top, and mozzarella cheese.
14. Bake for 15 minutes with a temperature of 180 degrees celsius
15. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.

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