Dacă ați vizitat Grecia, se prea poate să vă fi atras atenția în meniurilor restaurantelor un preparat cunoscut – musaca. De fapt, grecii îi scriu numele puțin altfel – mousakás (μουσακάς) - dar sigur ați înțeles despre ce ar fi vorba. Doar că, dacă ați și comandat o porție de musaca, s-ar putea să fi rămas puțin surprinși de ce ați primit.
Însă diferențele culturale au frumusețea lor și trebuie îmbrățișate, iar variațiunile culinare sub forma cărora s-a răspândit musacaua sunt un exemplu minunat de „unitate în diversitate”. Astfel, în Grecia aproape sigur veți primi o musaca de vinete , cu straturi de carne și sos alb, iar preparatul îl veți primi fierbinte, proaspăt scos din cuptor.
Grecii au fost dintotdeauna atrași si de varianta healthy a mâncărurilor, așadar, exista si varianta vegana.
mousakás (μουσακάς)
Moussaka (/muːˈsɑːkə/, /ˌmuːsəˈkɑː/ or /ˌmuːsɑːˈkɑː/) is an eggplant- (aubergine) or potato-based dish, often including ground meat, in the cuisines of the countries of the former Ottoman Empire, with many local and regional variations.
In Turkey, it is sautéed and served in the style of a casserole, and consumed warm or at room temperature. In Arabic countries, a variant is eaten cold. In the Balkans, the dish is layered and typically served hot. Many versions have a top layer made of milk-based sauce thickened with egg (custard) or flour (béchamel sauce).
Most versions are based primarily on sautéed aubergine (eggplant) and tomato, usually with minced meat. However, the Greek version includes layers of meat and eggplant topped with a Béchamel (“white”) sauce, and baked.
The modern Greek version was probably formulated by chef Tselementes in the 1920s.[2] It has three layers that are separately cooked before being combined for the final baking: a bottom layer of sliced eggplant sautéed in olive oil; a middle layer of ground lamb lightly cooked with chopped or puréed tomatoes, onion, garlic, and spices (cinnamon,allspice and black pepper); and a top layer of Béchamel sauce or savoury custard. The composed dish is then layered into a pan and baked until the top layer is browned. Moussaka is usually served warm, not piping hot; if cut hot out of the oven, moussaka squares tend to slide apart and consequently the dish needs some resting time to firm up before serving. Reheating, however, does not present the same problem.
There are variations on this basic recipe, sometimes with no top sauce, sometimes with other vegetables. Such variants may include, in addition to the eggplant slices, sautéedzucchini (courgette) slices, part-fried potato slices, or sautéed mushrooms. There is a fast-day (vegan) version in the Greek cookbook by Tselementes, which includes neither meat nor dairy products, just vegetables (ground eggplant is used instead of ground meat), tomato sauce, and bread crumbs.
Another variant is (melitzanes) papoutsakia (μελιτζάνες) παπουτσάκια (lit. ‘eggplant, little shoe style’) which consists of whole small eggplant stuffed with ground meat and topped with béchamel and baked, somewhat similar to the Turkish karnıyarık.