Lebanese Moussaka (Maghmour) – Six Hungry Toes

February 2, 2024

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Lebanese delicacies is famend for its distinctive mix of flavors, textures, and elements. This Lebanese Moussaka aka Maghmour, options the flavors and textures of this stunning delicacies. Hearty, wholesome, and scrumptious, this naturally vegan stew will develop into an everyday in your kitchen.

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What’s Lebanese Moussaka or Maghmour?

The Greek model of Moussaka and the Lebanese model have some similarities, however the cooking technique, flavors, and presentation of the dish are fairly completely different.

Lebanese Moussaka is a naturally vegan dish that options fried or roasted eggplant, tomatoes, and chickpeas. These elements are simmered to create a hearty stew seasoned with dried mint, and cinnamon.

Maghmour is historically served at room temperature or chilly (the Arabic phrase for Moussaka means chilly), however we tried this dish whereas heat and it was incredible additionally!

Our Lebanese Moussaka is:

Vegan
Gluten-free
A Center Easter recipe
Simple to make
A Primary dish
Excellent to get pleasure from throughout Spring and Summer season

The right way to make the very best Maghmour at dwelling

Substances

Eggplants. Select medium to massive eggplants. Be sure the greens are agency and haven’t any tender spots when shopping for them. To make sure that the eggplants are recent, verify for a inexperienced calyx (high half). You can too make this recipe utilizing Japanese eggplants. Modify the cooking occasions as they’re smaller and can prepare dinner sooner.

Recent tomatoes. Historically, Maghmour is made with recent tomatoes. You may optionally use canned tomatoes if recent tomatoes will not be juicy. Different choices are utilizing passata or do-it-yourself or jarred tomato sauce.

Chickpeas. You should use canned chickpeas or tinned chickpeas by merely including them to the stew, or dry chickpeas, soaking them in recent water in a single day, and strain cooking the chickpeas till tender earlier than including them to the Maghmour. For this recipe, we use canned chickpeas.

Tomato paste. This ingredient is non-compulsory. We like including some tomato paste or tomato puree so as to add that umami word to the dish. As effectively, tomato paste enhances the flavour of the recent or canned tomatoes.

Onion and garlic. Yellow onion and recent garlic are the bottom of this Lebanese Moussaka. You should use white onions, pink onions, or shallots.

Cinnamon. Our Maghmour recipe contains cinnamon powder because it enhances the pure sweetness of the tomatoes. You can too use a cinnamon stick.

Dried mint. That is the dried herb used to present a novel taste to this Lebanese delight. You can too, use recent mint to garnish the dish as we do, however we suggest including some dried mint additionally. It’s possible you’ll not be capable to get dried mint in your common grocery retailer, however you need to be capable to discover it in most well being meals outlets or massive supermarkets.

Olive oil. For this recipe, we bake the eggplant. To do that, we first coat the eggplant items in olive oil.

Step-by-Step Methodology for Lebanese Moussaka

Wash, peel, and minimize the eggplants. For Maghmour, we suggest peeling the eggplant leaving some strains of pores and skin. This manner, the eggplant will hold its form whereas cooking, and mixing with the remainder of the stew elements. Reduce the eggplant into huge chunks.
Place the eggplant items in a baking dish or baking tray, drizzle a beneficiant quantity of olive oil, mix ensuring all of the items are effectively coated, and bake for about 20-25 minutes at 200C (400F). Earlier than taking it out, make certain the eggplant has softened and is fork-tender.
Warmth some olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium warmth. Add the onion finely chopped, and prepare dinner for a couple of minutes till the colour begins to alter. Add the garlic, and prepare dinner for 1-2 extra minutes.
Add the tomato paste, cinnamon powder, and chopped tomatoes. Carry the warmth to medium-low warmth, stir effectively, and prepare dinner for at the least 10 minutes. For this half, cowl the pan with a lid, and be sure you add a little bit water once in a while so the tomatoes do not persist with the pan and burn.
As soon as the recent tomatoes are cooked and aromatic, add the cooked eggplant, and chickpeas. At this level, add a little bit water, to be sure you get the correct stew consistency.
Add the dried mint, mix effectively, and serve. Season with salt and black pepper to style.

Variations to our Lebanese Moussaka

Fry the eggplant. If you wish to hold this Jap Mediterranean recipe conventional, you’ll be able to fry the eggplant. We want baking it, because it absorbs much less oil than fried eggplants and the entire dish can be more healthy. However in the event you resolve to fry the eggplant, deep fry it in scorching oil utilizing a frying pan, after which go away it on a paper towel to launch the surplus oil earlier than including it to the stew.

Steam the eggplant. You can too steam the eggplant for this recipe. You may observe this technique that we use for our Chinese language Garlic Eggplant, to get your aubergine fantastically cooked utilizing a steamer.

Make it spicy. You may add harissa paste, chili flakes, cayenne pepper, chili powder, or chili oil to make this eggplant and chickpea stew spicy.

Use canned tomatoes. Recent tomatoes are the most suitable choice for this aubergine stew, particularly throughout Summer season when you will discover juicy and ripe tomatoes which might be candy. In any other case, canned tomatoes are an important possibility!

Lebanese Moussaka served with tahini sauce

Serving Options

Maghmour is a hearty essential dish excellent to get pleasure from at room temperature throughout Summer season, or heat throughout Winter months.

Our favourite method to get pleasure from this scrumptious eggplant dish is with some freshly baked Pita bread or flatbread. You can too serve Maghmour over rice, couscous, or quinoa.

Garnish the dish with some recent mint or parsley, lemon zest so as to add some acidity, and toasted pine nuts to present an important texture.

Should you like tahini sauce, you can also make a fast tahini sauce just like the one we use for our Tahini Eggplant, and drizzle some over the dish earlier than serving. Alternatively, you’ll be able to add a drizzle some further virgin olive oil, or some recent lemon juice earlier than serving.

You possibly can additionally, serve this Lebanese Eggplant Moussaka as a aspect dish, along with different Center Jap dishes akin to hummus, roasted candy potatoes, pita bread, falafels, or a recent salad.

Retailer and Reheat Maghmour

In case you have some leftovers of this center japanese moussaka, you’ll be able to retailer them within the fridge utilizing an hermetic container. Should you want this dish served at room temperature, take it out of the fridge one or two hours earlier than serving it once more.

You can too, reheat the leftovers utilizing the microwave to benefit from the Lebanese Moussaka heat.

FAQ and Suggestions

How is Maghmour completely different from Greek Moussaka?

Not like the Greek Moussaka, which generally contains layers of meat and béchamel sauce, Lebanese Maghmour is a vegetarian dish with a base of eggplants, tomatoes, and chickpeas. It’s lighter and options distinct Center Jap flavors. I assume you could possibly say Maghmour is a Vegan Eggplant Stew.

Can I put together Maghmour upfront?

Sure, Maghmour might be ready upfront and reheated. Many individuals discover that the flavors develop much more after sitting for a day or two within the fridge.

Can I freeze Maghmour?

Sure, Maghmour freezes effectively. Enable it to chill fully earlier than transferring it to a freezer-safe container. Thaw within the fridge earlier than reheating.

To prepare dinner the eggplant, Can I take advantage of the Air Fryer?

You may prepare dinner the eggplants utilizing the Air Fryer. It’s going to take round 20 minutes for the eggplants to completely prepare dinner.