Egyptian Moussaka/Messa'aa (Vegan/Vegetarian). For those of you that don't know, moussaka is a layered dish mainly composed of egglpant aubergine, tomato sauce, and minced meat. Great recipe for Egyptian Moussaka/Messa'aa (Vegan/Vegetarian). The moussaka that I am sharing with you today (as you have probably guessed by looking at the picture) is a different version of Moussaka.

Today's post is a short story I wrote titled "Love and Agami." The recipe that accompanies it is for the Egyptian version of moussaka, or masa'a, which is vegan when served as street food but sometimes made with ground beef or béchamel at home. It is a thick green soup with a slimy but fresh taste. Although Mulukhiyah is vegetarian Egyptian food, be aware that it can be cooked with chicken, beef or rabbit. You can have Egyptian Moussaka/Messa'aa (Vegan/Vegetarian) using 16 ingredients and 7 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Egyptian Moussaka/Messa'aa (Vegan/Vegetarian)

You need 2 of Garlic Cloves Crushed.
Prepare 2 of Tomatoes Sliced.
It's 1 Can of Crushed Tomatoes.
Prepare 1 Cup of Passata.
You need 1 Can of Chickpeas.
Prepare of Spices.
Prepare 1 tbs of 7 Spices.
You need 1 tsp of Salt.
It's 1 tsp of Pepper.
You need 1/4 tsp of Hot Chili Powder.
It's 1/2 tsp of Ground Cumin.
Prepare of Quite a lot of Olive Oil.
It's of Produce.
You need 2 of Eggplants Thickly Sliced.
Prepare 1/2 of Onion Sliced.
It's 1/2 of Onion Chopped.

Thus, please ask for the vegetarian option. In Egypt Coptic Christians make (vegan) vegetarian Mulukhia during the fasting season. If you are a pescetarian, Molokhia in Alexandria. Now, I would eat the eggplants stuffed, fried, grilled, pickled and perhaps raw one day.

Egyptian Moussaka/Messa'aa (Vegan/Vegetarian) instructions

Preheat Oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with foil and brush with oil, lay Eggplant slices and drizzle with oil, salt, pepper and Spices (keep most of Spices for the sauce). Alternatively, you can fry the Eggplant in batches and place on absorbent towel..
Bake for 10-15mins on each side.
While the Eggplant is baking, prepare the sauce..
The Sauce - Heat a table spoon of olive oil in a pot. Add chopped onion (not the sliced) & garlic until soft. Add the chickpeas and Spices and stir for a minute. Add the passata and canned tomatoes, bring to boil and simmer for approx 15-20mins.
Once Eggplant is baked, remove from oven and line the bottom of a baking tray with Eggplant slices. Then a layer of the sauce, followed by tomato slices, sliced onion and repeat process..
Place back in oven and bake for 40mins or so (you may want to cover the dish in foil for the first 20mins)..
I forgot to take a pic after pulling it out of the oven. Just wanted to eat 😂.

Egyptian moussaka could be made purely vegetarian or with beef. I will make the vegetarian version this round as I like it more. Each country prepares their moussaka in a different way! For example, in Egypt The dish is layers of fried eggplant, tomato sauce and ground beef. Different households prepare the mesa'aa in different ways.