Hi,
I recently realised that my family does musaka or moussaka differently than the rest, or at least the greek restaurants around me. One of the main differences being that we omit using béchamel sauce. We use only sour cream or combo of sour cream or yoghurt and egg. This makes our version low carb or no carb.

Ingredients

eggplants or zucchinis – I use 1/2 – 1 zucchini per person
ground meat – this time I used chicken
onions – I used 2 green onions
parsley or other herbs
salt, pepper
cayenne , paprika (completely optional)
egg,
1/2 cup sour cream and 2 Tbsp milk (or yoghurt instead of the combo of milk and sour cream)

I first sauté the onions and meet with spices that I like. Usually I add paprika and cayenne, but these are completely optional. When meet is almost done I add parsley, you can also add oregano or some other herb that you like. My Mum’s favourite herb is parsley so I use that one 🙂

While my meet is sautéing I prepare the veggies. Since I used zucchinis I just sliced them thinly. This time I removed the core and sliced them into half rounds. But you can also slice them into long strips. Then I salt it and leave it to rest until the meet is done.

Assembly

When the meat is done, I taste it to see if it needs more salt or spices. And then I start with the assembly. I take my dish and oil the sides. Then I layer the zucchinis into about 1/4 inch (0.5cm) layer. I layer the meat atop, in approx the same thickness of the zucchini layer. Then the next zucchini layer goes atop of the meat. I continue building layer until I have used up all of the ingredients. When my layers are finished. I add a little bit of cheese on the top if I have it, and combine the egg, sour cream and milk, and pour it over my musaka. If I think that my musaka does not have enough salt, I will salt this mixture before pouring it.

Conclusion

Musaka or moussaka. A layered dish usually made with eggplant. We prefer the version with zucchinis, although we would do it with eggplants as well. Or combo, or adding a bit of potato into the mix as well was nice :). It can have multiple layers of meat or one middle layer. In my case this jus depends how many ingredients are there. I don’t stress about it having a ton of layers. The main layer is the top one. This one usually takes me a while to finish because I usually try to layer them intentionally, to make a sort of spiral. (Ratatouille anyone)

The mix of eggs with sour cream and milk can be changed. If I have yoghurt then I use that instead of the sour cream and milk. So then it is just eggs and yoghurt. This version also has a bit more acidity. But it is a bit lighter. My family uses no flour. Only eggs and dairy. It turns out delicious every time. And my grandma even made a veggie version, but this one we considered a separate dish. And I will write the recipe when I make it. Until then, I hope you give this a try. It is delicious! And healthy!