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This Vegetarian Lentil Moussaka has wealthy, savory layers, and is a Mediterranean-inspired dish that gives a hearty, satisfying meal with out weighing it down with the meat.

Combining tender eggplant, creamy and considerably bit tacky béchamel sauce, and a flavorful lentil and tomato filling, this recipe delivers all of the consolation of normal moussaka in a vegetarian-friendly model.

Moussaka is a main dish in Mediterranean delicacies, significantly beloved in Greek and Coronary heart Jap cooking. Historically made with layers of eggplant, flooring meat, and béchamel sauce, this dish is often served at household gatherings or festive events.

The vegetarian model replaces the meat with protein-packed lentils, making it a lighter nonetheless equally hearty various. Lentil moussaka pairs splendidly with a crisp Greek salad and a few scrumptious Greek bread, and it’s a wonderful dish to arrange forward of time.

Extra hearty vegetarian meals to your repertoire: 

Components

Eggplant layer

Eggplants: Just like the pasta layer in a daily lasagna. They add a mushy, creamy texture and barely smoky type along with a dietary value.

Salt: Attracts out the moisture of the eggplants, avoiding soggy eggplant as shortly as baked. It furthermore removes additional bitterness!

Olive oil: So the eggplant will not be going to burn.

Lentil sauce

Yellow onion and garlic: The fragrant basis of the filling. 

Crimson lentils: Substitute the meat with a protein-rich, hearty base. 

Crimson wine: Provides depth, richness, and complexity to the sauce, making it considerably bit additional fruity and tart.

Crushed tomatoes: Add richness and acidity.

Tomato puree: Intensifies the tomato type along with thickening the filling. 

Vegetable inventory: To get the precise consistency of the sauce, with out watering down the flavour!

Sugar: Relies upon upon considerably bit on the tomatoes, nonetheless normally a small teaspoon of sugar helps improve the tomato type.

Dried oregano, cinnamon, bay leaf, and salt: For type. You might not take into consideration how scrumptious that little addition of cinnamon makes it!

Olive oil: To keep away from burning the onions. 

Béchamel sauce

Butter: The fats side of the roux. Ensures that the sauce thickens merely.

All-purpose flour: The thickening agent of the béchamel. When cooked with the butter (i.e.; the roux), the flour’s starches gelatinize. 

Milk: The liquid side that mixes the roux with the remainder of the sauce substances. Makes it a transparent and creamy sauce.

Nutmeg: To strengthen the flavour. A must in each béchamel sauce (or white sauce as we establish it in Norway)!

Vegetarian parmesan cheese: For this particular recipe, we furthermore add parmesan cheese for a superb richer sort. 

Egg + additional egg yolk: Enrich the béchamel, making it even creamier and giving it a custard-like texture. 

Salt and freshly cracked pepper: For added type.

After which there typically is the breadcrumb topping for a scrumptious crisp texture!

As likelihood is excessive chances are you’ll or could not have seen, there’s a sure stage of overlapping correct proper right here, and a great deal of substances are simple pantry staples, so don’t fret! 

Directions

Eggplant layer

Begin by getting ready the eggplant layer. Preheat the oven to 460℉ (240℃).

Slice the eggplants lengthwise into 1 cm or ½ inch thick. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet or related (2). Sprinkle salt on each side of the eggplants and allow them to sweat for 20-Half-hour (throughout the meantime, begin with the lentil tomato sauce and the béchamel sauce). 

After 20-Half-hour you may see that there’s some water on the pores and pores and skin of the eggplants. Pat them dry with a paper towel (3). In a superb layer, bake all through the oven for 15-20 minutes or till calmly browned and softened (4). Cool barely.

Lentil sauce

In a skillet of medium-high warmth, put together dinner dinner the onion till translucent, about 7 minutes (5). Then add the garlic and put together dinner dinner for one more minute or till aromatic.

Pour all through the wine and put together dinner dinner till the alcohol odor is gone, a few minutes (6). Then add the remainder of the substances aside from the lentils (7). Stir it and put together dinner dinner for about Quarter-hour or till it’s a thick sauce.

Drain the cans of crimson lentils, rinse, and stir them into the sauce for the last word 5 minutes (8).

Mannequin and regulate the seasonings as you uncover obligatory. Whether or not it’s too tart, add additional sugar, whether or not it’s bland, add additional sugar and salt, or perhaps a teaspoon of vinegar. Be at liberty to utilize further spices too. 

Béchamel sauce

The roux: Soften butter on medium-low warmth in a saucepan. As shortly as a result of the butter has melted, add the flour and put together dinner dinner for about 1 minute whereas continually stirring. It needs to be a thick paste, nonetheless not dry (9). 

Fastidiously pour all through the milk whereas continually stirring (10). Stir usually for 3-4 minutes or till it has thickened. I choose to utilize the back-of-the-spoon trick: Dip a spoon into the sauce and run your finger on the underside of it. If the sauce does not run as soon as extra, it is thick ample, see the image beneath (11). 

Take it off the warmth and add the remainder of the substances. Stir till a transparent sauce (12-14).

Assemble the lentil moussaka

Scale back the temperature of the oven to 350℉ (180℃). Add a superb layer of half of the eggplants into a large baking dish (9×13 inches or 23×33 cm) (15).

Pour all through the lentil sauce, and prime with the remaining eggplants* (16). Pour over the béchamel (17) after which prime with the breadcrumbs

(18). Bake all through the oven for about 40 minutes or till the perfect is golden brown.

Let it relaxation for 10 minutes earlier than serving. 

* As quickly as I shot these pictures, I used to be all in my head and poured the béchamel appropriate over the lentil sauce (i.e.; I forgot half of the eggplants). I contemplated in a position to make it one completely different time, nonetheless determined in opposition to it and printed the recipe anyway! So whilst you neglect one eggplant layer, you are going to be advantageous. For a lot of who be mindful it – you is perhaps my hero. 

Serve with a Greek salad and Greek bread. 

My good Greek salad consists of iceberg lettuce, feta cheese, black olives, tomatoes, cucumber, crimson onion, and a simple oil-based dressing!

Substitutions

• Substitute eggplants with zucchini slices, an an identical course of though they could want quite a bit a lot much less time all through the oven. 
• Use inexperienced lentils as a substitute of crimson, the an an identical course of.
• For a vegan dish, it’s best to make use of a vegan béchamel sauce with flax eggs to make it considerably bit custardy.  

Variations

• Vegan moussaka: As I discussed underneath substitutions, the béchamel is the one non-vegan side of this dish. So for those who want it vegan, it’s best to swap out the béchamel with a vegan one after which add a flax egg to make it custardy.
• Spiced moussaka: You may as correctly add additional warmth to the lentil moussaka by along with crimson chili to the lentil sauce. I choose to utilize Cayenne after I would love the warmth. For a neater model, merely add a beneficiant pinch of crimson chili flakes.
• Tacky moussaka: So we have already got some vegetarian parmesan in our béchamel, nonetheless we might oomph it up with layers of mozzarella or feta cheese between the lentil filling and eggplant layers for added richness. 

Gear

• An unlimited baking dish (9×13 inches) to assemble the moussaka.
• A pointy knife for slicing the eggplants and chopping greens.
• A baking sheet to bake the eggplants.
• An unlimited skillet for cooking the lentil filling.
• A saucepan for making the béchamel sauce.
• A whisk for making a transparent béchamel sauce.

Storage

Retailer leftover moussaka in an hermetic container all through the fridge for as quite a bit as 4 days. Reheat express explicit individual parts all through the microwave or your full dish all through the oven at 350°F (175°C) till warmed by means of.

This dish furthermore freezes appropriately; cool completely earlier than freezing in a sealed container for as quite a bit as 2 months. Thaw all through the fridge in a single day earlier than reheating.

Educated ideas

• Let the moussaka relaxation for 10-Quarter-hour after baking to permit the layers to set, making it easier to slice.
• Mannequin the lentil filling earlier than assembling to regulate the seasoning, guaranteeing a well-balanced type.
• If the béchamel sauce is just too thick, add a splash of milk to understand the specified consistency. Nonetheless, it needs to be thicker than a regular béchamel sauce on account of it is sitting on prime of the lentils.
• I specify vegetarian parmesan on account of most parmesans aren’t vegetarian. Animal rennet is often used to assist the milk coagulate, separating the curds and whey. Search for phrases like “microbial rennet” or “vegetarian rennet” when looking for the cheese. Nonetheless, if that’s of no concern to you, be at liberty to make the most of no matter parmesan you need. 

Recipe FAQs

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