Rich and Fattening Lentil Moussaka (vegan)

This recipe is suitable for a: vegetarian or vegan diet

Category: Main Dishes - Other




Ingredients:
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1 onion, finely chopped
A few cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tin tomatoes
1 1/4 cups of green or brown lentils (uncooked) or 1 tin brown lentils
salt
pepper to taste
1 or 2 bay leaves
1/4 cup or so red wine
Couple of teaspoons of mixed dried herbs (eg sage, rosemary, savoury, thyme). Alternatively, a larger amount of fresh herbs can be used, if available
3 1/2 cups or so veggie stock or water (if you are using dry lentils)
2/3 of a cup olive oil for frying
3 large, shiny eggplants (aubergines)




Instructions:
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Cut the eggplant into nice, thick slices, salt, and leave aside to drain for 20 minutes. This optional step will leach out any bitterness in the eggplants.

In the meantime prepare your filling. Heat a tablespoonful or so of oil in a frypan and cook onion until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients apart from the eggplant, cover, and simmer until cooked. If you are using dry lentils this will take about 50 minutes. If you are using tinned lentils it will take about 15-20.

Meanwhile, wash the salted, drained eggplants, and dry. Heat a good portion of the oil and fry eggplant slices on both sides until golden. You will probably need to add more oil between batches as eggplants soak up a lot of oil. That is ok, as olive oil is a good oil, and as the title suggests, this is a Rich and Fattening dish. Leave eggplant slices to drain on kitchen paper or serviettes, to soak up any excess oil.

Next, take a casserole dish, and line the bottom of with a layer of the eggplant. Spread a layer of the tomato lentil filling over the eggplant, then layer another lot of eggplant on top of that. Continue in this way, much like you are making a lasagne, until you have used up all the eggplant and filling. End on a layer of eggplant.

Top with a bechemal sauce, roux, or similar white sauce. I have used layers of vegan packet cheese on top quite successfully, too. Bechamel sauces can be found elsewhere on this site.




Additional comments:
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Takes a while to prepare and cook, but definately worth it.

Feeds 4, with decent sized serves, and a little left over for the next day.




Recipe source: This recipe is mine or I have altered it from its original version.

If you try this recipe please come back and leave a review!

Ahhhhh... this is AWESOME sounding - I think I'm going to attempt it very soon here... maybe tonight even! I'll report back and give you a review... :drool:

You don't bake this after you put it all in the casserole?

Um.... oops. You do misq17. My appologies for leaving that bit out. And thank you for pointing it out to be.

You bake it in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes or until done on top.

Oh good, I was just coming back to check on the directions for making this. I got the ingredients I didn't have (though I basically had almost everything) and I am going to make it for dinner tomorrow night.

Will it turn out OK if I make it tonight and keep in the 'fridge until tomorrow and bake it for supper then? (I assume I'd have to make sure I baked it 'till it was hot all the way through...). I'm thinking it'll be fine...

It should. It does quite well bakes then reheated the next day, too. The 25 minutes is with the ingredients still warm. Maybe stick another 5 or 10 on there to help with the reheating, and just check at 25 to much sure the top is not becoming overdone?

Ah..... Thanks for posting this, Kiz. I will have to try this soon. :)

OK, I made this up tonight. It's in the fridge for tomorrow night's supper and it looks SOOO yummy!!!
I drained the eggplant really well after frying and it didn't seem too have too much excess oil.
And as you suggested, I topped it with a cream sauce/white sauce/bechemal sauce (all the same thing I always assumed?) using Linda McCartney's recipe (but there's a ton of recipes out there)

http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes/linda.html#bech

YAY! Tomorrow night's supper is all done!! I'm excited!

This sounds great. I include legumes in my diet, but it's hard for me to make them tasty. I'm always looking for recipes that are unusual, and I don't have any recipe that uses legumes and eggplant.

Thanks, Kiz.

sounds great. I will probably have time to make it on Wednesday...or not 'till Friday. Will let you know how it goes! :up:

OK - we had this for supper and it was soooooooooo yummy.... my lentils cooked up pretty "dry" - I would probably add two cans ("tins") tomatoes next time...
(and maybe more galic because I will always use more garlic...) but otherwise.... oh my gosh - how yummy!! Major veggie comfort food!!

I think I might make this on Friday if I can convince one of my parents to go shopping and get me some eggplant. I'll probably broil the eggplant though since my mom is supposed to be watching her saturated fat intake.

TNS: Did you have to double or cut the bechemal/cream sauce thing or anything, or did you use the amount of all the ingredients on that website?


And one more question, do you cover it at all when you cook it?

I don't cover it when I cook it, no.

misq17: I DID double the bechamel/white sauce recipe.
And the eggplant cooked nicely in a nonstick "silverstone" skillet with really a minimal amount of oil.... I used an oil sprayer and it was just fine.

The sauce browned a bit on top when I baked it - almost like a melted cheese sauce - man it was YUMMY!!

I'm making this tonight and cooking it tomorrow. I'll report back once I've eaten it :)

I made this today and I was a little disappointed. I think it was just too saucy with the bechemal sauce on top and I couldn't really taste the tomatoes. I made half the recipe. I think I might try this again but top it with tomato sauce instead of bechmal :p

I tried it over the weekend... sort of.

I used kidney beans instead of lentils, and didn't add tomatoes, onion, or salt. I didn't salt and drain the eggplant- I just sauteed it in olive oil over low heat (man, does that stuff soak up oil! I had to keep the heat low so it wouldn't burn.) I used dried sage, thyme, and bay leaf for the herbs. And I made it as a sort of stew instead of a casserole with bechamel sauce, and spooned it over brown rice.

But it wasn't bad.

I do such violence to recipes, and then wonder why they sometimes don't turn out so good...:chef: :dunce:

My fiance is greek, and ever since I went vegan I haven't made much greek food for him, so thank you Kiz for the recipe, it sounds wonderful! :)