Moussaka (Middle Eastern style)

I love aubergines, probably one of the finest and versatile vegetables that there is. I have to say though, thanks to various cookery programs and articles the British* seem to have some strange ideas about this vegetable. 

Even as recently as 10 years ago I remember watching Delia Smith salt the poor creature and then wring it out in a kitchen towel “to remove the bitter juices”. I am not sure where the fallacy that aubergines are bitter came from, quite possibly some early semi-feral variety. In my decades of aubergine eating I have only once come across one bitter little bugger and that was some teeny tiny baby aubergines I bought from an Asian grocery store.
So I say for the sake of the poor wee veggies, unless you are frying them in which case you want as much moisture drawn out of them as possible to stop them being a little fat-soaking-up sponge – don’t salt your aubergines, they really don’t need it!!!

This recipe is a halfway house between Lebanese style moussaka and Egyptian style moussaka (or mesakaa / messa’aa depending on the transliteration). Both sharing a name and perhaps a few similarities to the more widely known Greek dish. The Lebanese moussaka is vegetarian and contains chickpeas. It’s also usually a stew cooked on a stove top. The Egyptian moussaka may be vegetarian, though more often than not it contains lamb, especially when cooked at home. It also may or may not have a béchamel sauce like the Greek variety, and like the Greek variety it’s baked.

Ingredients
1 large aubergine
1 large tomato
200ml passata
1 large can of chickpeas
1 onion (thinly sliced)
4 cloves of garlic (crush 2 cloves, chop the remainder finely)
Bunch of coriander
Handful of ground walnuts (optional)
Handful of chopped black olives (optional)
Handful of grated halloumi
A splash of pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp ras el hanout (optional)
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tablespoon of harissa (or to taste)

1 Slice the aubergine into 1cm rounds and grill
2. While the aubergine is cooking, fry the sliced onion and crushed garlic in olive oil until softened
3. To the onion, add the spices, passata, chickpeas, pomegranate molasses, olives and ground walnuts (if using, I was clearing out the fridge and had a few odds and ends knocking around)
4. To assemble, get a large oven proof dish, spoon a little of the tomato mixture in the bottom and then layer on the aubergines. Sprinkle with some of the chopped garlic and halloumi and then add more sauce. Repeat until you run out of aubergine reserving a little sauce to add on top. Decorate with the sliced tomato, some chopped coriander and the remaining grated halloumi
5. Bake in a 250C oven for around 30 minutes or until bubbling. I’m not overly fond of over browned cheese so I covered the dish with tinfoil for the first 20 minutes
6. Eat! Delicious served with a salad and topped with a yoghurt tahini dressing, or if you want something a little more filling, a vermicelli rice pilaf

*Not just the British, at least half the recipes I see online that contain aubergine will somewhere mention in the article that salting is required to draw out the bitterness. Don’t believe me?! Have a nibble of a raw slice, go on – it wont kill ya! Sure it may not taste of much, but I guarantee it’s not going to taste bitter!!!