Moussaka

Moussaka is a dish built around eggplant or potatoes, frequently with ground meat, and is found across the Balkans and the Middle East in many local forms. The modern Greek version, which layers sautéed eggplant, spiced minced lamb, and a top layer of béchamel or custard, was developed in the 1920s by the French-trained chef Nikolaos Tselementes. He also created a vegan version for Orthodox fasting periods, and Romania has a vegan variant that substitutes mushrooms or a mix of rice and onions for the meat.

Names and etymology

The dish’s English name comes from Greek mousakás, which traces back through Ottoman Turkish to the Arabic muṣaqqa‘a, meaning “pounded” or “cold.” It first appeared in English in 1862, in a translation of a Turkish cookbook. Food historian Charles Perry suggests the Arabic root musaqqâ (“moistened”) refers to the dish being soaked in broth. Similar layered eggplant-and-meat recipes, called maghmūmat, appear in a 13th-century Arabic cookbook by Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi. Ottoman Turkish cookbooks from the 19th century, including an 1882 work and the 1862 translation, contain several versions, as does an 1893 Egyptian Arabic cookbook.

Other countries of Southeast Europe

In Greece, the dish is layered and served hot. Variations may include zucchini, potato slices, or mushrooms, and sometimes omit the top sauce. A related Greek dish, papoutsákia, uses whole small eggplants stuffed with meat and topped with béchamel. In Albania, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, and Romania, potatoes often replace eggplant, with pork or beef mince and a top layer of eggs mixed with milk or yogurt.

Romanian versions may use potatoes, eggplant, or cabbage, with layers of meat and vegetables, sometimes topped with breadcrumbs, tomatoes, and cheese, and filled with tomato sauce. A pasta variant also exists. In the rest of the Balkans, a custard topping is common, often sprinkled with cheese or breadcrumbs—this is the version popularized in the UK by Elizabeth David. The potato-based version is also the most common in Norway, though it is often incorrectly marketed as “Greek moussaka.”

Levant

In the Levant, the dish differs greatly. Lebanese moussaka is a stew-like mix of tomatoes and eggplant, sometimes with chickpeas, served cold as a mezze or hot. Syrian and Lebanese musaqa'a may use whole fried small eggplants, cooked on the stove, and often includes onions and chickpeas. Palestinian moussaka usually has minced meat between eggplant layers; in Gaza, tomatoes are added, and meat may be omitted or replaced with canned meat when unavailable.

The Egyptian version, mesaqa‘ah, layers fried eggplant in tomato sauce and bakes it, and can be made vegan, vegetarian, or with meat. In Turkey, mussaka features thinly sliced, fried eggplant in a tomato-based meat sauce, served warm or at room temperature. In Saudi Arabia, muṣagga‘a is eaten hot, while in other Arab countries it is often eaten cold, though occasionally hot as well.