Turkish Moussaka is an authentic Turkish dish made with layers of aubergines and tomatoey meat sauce. This tasty dish is originated from Ottoman cuisine and there are few different variations. Some replace the lamb mince with beef or chicken mince and some replace the aubergines with courgettes or potatoes. It is very easy to adjust this versatile dish to your taste. I like adding some chickpeas in the sauce as they add some texture to the dish and I love the combination of them with aubergines.
You can prepare Turkish Moussaka in advance and gently heat up on low heat before serving. It is one of these dishes that taste better when reheated. The best way to serve it is with a slice of crusty bread or some Turkish Rice Pilaf.
Jump to Recipe
How to Make Turkish Moussaka?
Although the preparation takes a bit of time, making Turkish Moussaka is straight forward and there are few easy steps that you need to follow to achieve the best results:
- Prepare the aubergines – Peel the aubergines in stripes and slice them 1 cm thick. Heat a frying pan on medium heat and add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, fry the aubergines for 2-3 minutes on both sides until lightly browned and slightly softened. Add extra oil if needed as aubergines observe lots of oil. Place the aubergines onto a colander to drain the excess oil. Gently pressing the aubergines will help to get rid of some of the excess oil. You can reuse the oil drained from the aubergines to fry the next batch.
- Prepare the meat sauce – When you finish frying all the aubergine, use the same pan to prepare the meat sauce. Get rid of the extra oil in the pan and add the mince. Place the pan on medium heat and cook the mince until brown and it releases its fat. Stir occasionally to break the mince down into small pieces. Add onions, peppers, chilli and garlic, sauté until translucent then add freshly ground black pepper, cumin and salt. Sauté for 30 more seconds, stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute before adding the chopped tomatoes. Add the stock along with the chickpeas, stir well and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Take off from the heat and add chopped parsley.
- Assemble the moussaka – Preheat the fan oven to 180 °C. To assemble the moussaka, layer half of the aubergines on the bottom of an oven dish size of 22 cm-24 cm diameter and sprinkle some salt. Spoon half of the meat mixture on the aubergines and spread evenly on top. Layer the rest of the aubergines on meat filling and sprinkle some more salt before topping them up with the rest of the meat filling. Cover the dish with tin foil or a lid and put it in the hot oven. Cook for 1 hour then remove the lid/tin foil and cook for another 45 minutes or until the aubergines are softened and the sauce has thickened.
I hope you enjoy the process of making Turkish moussaka as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂
Bon appétit! / Afiyet olsun!
Turkish Moussaka
Ingredients
- 4 medium aubergines (800 g in total)
- ½ cup vegetable or sunflower oil (for frying)
- 300 g lamb or beef mince
- 1 large onion (finely chopped)
- 1-2 Turkish green chili (or ½ green bell pepper)
- ½ red chili (or ½ tsp chili flakes)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- ½ tbsp salt
- ½ TSP freshly ground black pepper
- ½ TSP cumin powder
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 medium tomatoes (diced)
- 90 g dried chickpeas soaked overnight and cooked for 1.5 hours (or 200 grams cooked chickpeas)
- 1 ½ cups chicken stock (350 ml)
- ⅓ cup chopped parsley
Instructions
- Heat a frying pan on medium heat and add the vegetable oil.
- Peel the aubergines in stripes and slice them 1 cm thick.
- When the oil is hot, fry the aubergines for 2-3 minutes on both sides until lightly browned and slightly softened. Do it in batches and add more oil if needed.
- Place the aubergines onto a colander to drain the excess oil.
- When you finish frying all the aubergines, use the same pan to prepare the meat sauce.
- To make the meat sauce, add the mince in the pan and place on medium heat.
- Cook the mince until brown and it releases its fat, stirring occasionally to break the mince down into small pieces.
- Add onions, peppers, chilli and garlic, saute until translucent then add freshly ground black pepper, cumin and salt. Saute for 30 more seconds.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute then add the chopped tomatoes.
- Add the stock and chickpeas, stir well and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Take off from the heat and add chopped parsley.
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
- To assemble the moussaka, layer half of the aubergines on the bottom of an oven dish size of 22 cm-24 cm diameter and sprinkle some salt.
- Spoon half of the meat mixture on the aubergines and spread evenly on top.
- Layer the rest of the aubergines on meat filling and sprinkle some more salt before topping them up with the rest of the meat filling.
- Cover the dish with tin foil or a lid and put it in the hot oven. Cook for 1 hour then remove the lid/tin foil and cook for another 45 minutes or until the aubergines are softened and the sauce has thickened.
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @cookingorgeous on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingorgeous.
We will definitely try this recipe, thanks for sharing.
You are welcome
Please let me know how it turns out for you when you do 🙂
This was delicious full of flavour, thank you.
Dear Matt
You are welcome. glad you liked it 🙂
Great recipe