Moorish Vegan Moussaka

One of my favourite dishes is Vegetarian Moussaka, with its savoury morrocon aromas, juicy layered vegetables, soft potato and thick creamy topping making it a satisfying comfort-feast that even the most voracious carnivore wouldn't turn their nose up at on a cold winter's night.

The challenge I set myself today was to recreate the classic Moussaka using only Vegan ingredients, meaning no yoghurt, cheese or milk - i.e. everything that makes the Moussaka different and more than just a simple vegetable bake!

Moorish Vegan Moussaka

Ingredients:

• 1 Medium or 1/2 a large Onion (50g), chopped
• 1 Aubergine (275g), sliced lengthways
• 3-4 Cloves of Garlic, minced
• 3 Medium Potatoes (250g) - I used organic ones
• (125g Green Bell Pepper - I put this in but it didn't really add anything so will probably leave it out next time)
• 75g Baby Button Mushrooms
• 400g Chopped Tomatoes
• 2 Fresh Tomatoes
• 150g Vegan Mince (I used Granose, 25g soaked for 1 min in boiling water, but think Frozen Quorn Mince would actually be better for this dish)
• 600g Vegan 'Cheese' Sauce or White Sauce (I made 300g using 3 tsp 'Cheese' Sauce Powder reconstituted using 250 ml Unsweetened Soya Milk, which worked fine, but there wasn't enough to cover the Moussaka!)
• 200g Soya Plain 'Yoghurt' Substitute (I used 150g Alpro Plain Yoghurt, mixed with a bit of fresh Coriander to neutralise the vanilla taste, but again there wasn't enough!)
• 10g Vegan 'Parmesan' or sprinkly 'cheese' - optional (I would actually leave this off next time as the sauce was delicious enough anyway)
• 1 dried chilli
• 1 tsp/ 5ml Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp/ 2.5ml Ground Nutmeg + another tsp/ 5ml for the Sauce
• Sprig of fresh Mint (or dried mint if you don't have any)
• Sprig of fresh Coriander (dried if you must)
• 1 tablespoon of salt (to salt the Aubergine and Courgette, rinsed off again before baking)

Method:

1. Put potatoes on to boil in a pan.
2. Cut the Aubergine and Courgette lengthwise into strips and layer them in a bowl with salt springled between each strip. Put to one side.
3. Put the Onion and Chilli in a frying pan on a low heat with a little oil or frying spray.
4. Mince the Garlic and Slice the Mushrooms, and add to the frying pan along with the Mince once the Onion has softened a bit. Stir and continue to cook on a low heat until the Mushrooms are a bit soft.
5. Add the Chopped Tomatoes, Cinammon and 1/2 tsp Nutmeg to the frying pan. Turn the heat up to medium and keep simmering and stirring.
6. Take the potatoes off the boil and drain. Slice them into strips and line them up in the bottom of a square baking tin or casserole dish.
7. Rinse the courgette and aubergine under cold water to get rid of the salt. Drain.
8. Layer the aubergine strips over the potato in the baking tin.
9. Take the Mince/Tomato in the frying pan off the heat and spread half over the aubergine.
10. Layer the courgette over the top.
11. Slice the two tomatoes and distribute over the courgette.
12. Cover with the rest of the Tomato/Mince mixture.
13. In a bowl, mix the Soya Plain Yoghurt substitute with the fresh Coriander and Mint. Dollop or spoon evenly over the Moussaka, depending on your preference.
14. In a thick-bottomed pan, make a Vegan white sauce, adding the rest of the ground Nutmeg. I used a ready-made 'cheese' sauce mix, but you could just use some flour, Vegan marg and Unsweetened Soya Milk.
15. Pour over the top of the Moussaka.
16. Bake for 40-50 mins (I cooked mine for 30-35 mins but I don't think it was long enough as the vegetables were a bit chewy - but the topping was perfect, and I have a feeling it might get a little bit too crispy if it was left longer. Because of this I think next time I will experiment with baking the Moussaka without the sauce for 10-20 mins and then adding it later.)