What's up YouTube! Welcome to Shibby's Kitchen! I trust you didn't great today! As requested by a viewer, today we're learning how to make moussaka the vegan or vegetarian way! I converted the traditional Greek recipe into a vegan or vegetarian one, that uses no meat This was the first time I made moussaka and the recipe turned out brilliantly! It wasn't too difficult to learn, but it takes some time and patience
Every minute is worth it though, as you have an oven tray full of delicious goodness you can share with your family and friends! So let's get cooking some delicious plant-based dishes! Instead of minced beef, we'll make a mushroom and sweet potato stew and instead of using milk and egg yolks in our bechamel sauce, we'll use almond milk and chickpea water Get ready to truly veganize this original Greek recipe! To start prepping, lightly brush your baking tray with rapeseed oil and set your oven to fan and to 200 degrees Celsius, or that's 390 degrees Fahrenheit the first layer is potatoes and red onion Peel those potatoes and slice into fairly thin disks Roughly chop the onion In a big bowl season them with salt and pepper, sprinkle over some thyme, drizzle over some rapeseed oil and mixed through
Place the potatoes in your baking tray and arrange the slices evenly on the bottom with the onions on top Get it into the oven and bake for 20 minutes Alright, let's get cracking with the aubergines or eggplants! Slice a large one into fairly thin disks, and just like before, season with salt and pepper, drizzle on that rapeseed oil and sprinkle on half a handful of thyme and now I'll just mix through Don't be tempted to use too much oil though, as the aubergines soak it up like a sponge! After the first 20 minutes of baking are up take out the tray and arrange the aubergines on top of the potato layer Try not to leave any gaps and again place it in the oven for about 20 minutes
Now onto the courgettes or zucchini and yes, you guessed it! Season them with salt, pepper, rapeseed oil and thyme just like before! Arrange these nicely on top of the aubergines and these guys also go into the oven for a third 20 minutes Now we'll start with the awesomely rustic mushroom and sweet potatoes stew! Dice one sweet potato leaving most of the skin on The skin is a great source of vitamin A so definitely don't peel the sweet potato please Oil a large non-stick pan with some rapeseed oil and get a chopped onion and two stalks of celery in there Sweat them on a low to medium heat for a good 5 minutes
Add in a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and half a teaspoon of ground cloves This will give the dish that light rustic flavour that distinguishes it from an Italian lasagna Add a couple of chopped cloves of garlic to your onions After a few more minutes, your onions will start to soften and turn golden brown Add in the diced sweet potato and a whole bunch of lovely chopped chestnut mushrooms
See if you need to add some extra seasoning and a little more oil Crank up the heat to the max and pour in about a glass of white wine Once the timer for the courgettes is up, take the tray out of the oven and set aside If it's your first time making bechamel, it may be little challenging, but don't be afraid to give it a go! Just be patient with it and follow the instructions Get a fairly big splash of rapeseed oil into a small or medium sized non-stick pan
Set the heat to very low Pour in some organic flour or whole wheat flour About a fistful to begin with, and slowly mix that into the flour Once incorporated, add a second fistful of flour You need 750ml of proper organic almond milk
You'll be pouring this over the flour mixture in little batches So just pour in about half a glass of almond milk at a time and continue doing this about eight to ten times once you've poured in the last batch of your milk, you'll see that the sauce is silky and smooth Also you'll know the sauce is ready once it starts bubbling like this! Season it with only a little bit of salt and pepper and grate a little bit of nutmeg on it Now you can pour in the water of one can of chickpeas
Combine all this with your whisk and you can turn off the heat Once the mushrooms and sweet potato are nearly done add in some red pesto for that sun-dried tomato flavour or some tomato puree Instead of the tomato passata you can use some chopped tomatoes out of a jar or about four medium fresh ones, of course Cook all this through for about five to ten minutes until you see a little oil rising to the top of the pan Then your stew is done
And now we're ready to add the bechamel sauce Only add about 1/3 of the sauce you made Mix this all together and continue cooking for another five minutes on medium heat, until your stew mixture feels nice and sticky You're done once it's really sticky You basically want to avoid it being too wet or saucy which will make your moussaka lose its shape
Time to get the last couple of layers on our tray! Spread the stew over the veggies followed by the remaining 2/3 of your bechamel sauce Even this out with an offset spatula, getting it into all those nooks and crannies Finally, I'm grating some Parmesan cheese all over the bechamel layer This is fine if you're vegetarian but if you're not into cheese, the parmesan is of course optional Phew this is the last baking time! About 25 minutes in the oven to complete the bake
And here is your glorious moussaka! It's ready when the top has a lovely golden colour just like this one Damn! I wish you could smell my kitchen right now! I'll get hungry neighbours knocking at my door! Carefully lift out a nice slice and it's ready for plating Garnish with a fresh sprig of thyme Definitely the star of the show! I'm placing some cherry tomatoes to go with it, as they're light and sweet, but I'm sure you can serve it with all sorts of nice sides Add a little sea salt on the room-temperature tomatoes, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a little thyme for that Mediterranean touch! And here's your delicious and healthy vegan or vegetarian Greek moussaka! It's already an all-time favourite with the friends and family Well! I know that took a while but was it worth it?! Heck yes! You see, everyone at the dinner party last night had a second helping! That's how tasty it is! Now, as always, let me know in the comments below how this recipe turned out for you and if there's a particular recipe you'd let me to make
And of course you can find the full recipe for this vegan / vegetarian moussaka on my website Like this video and share it with your friends, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already I love you guys! Thank you for watching!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
