Ethiopian Moussaka

-LW

I came up with this recipe for a cooking challenge Stephen and I did where I had to combine African and Mediterranean cuisine. I served it with something similar to Ethiopian tomato salad (made of chopped tomatoes, minced serrano, chopped green onion and salt). The fresh crunch and acid from the tomatoes was a key contrast and really enhanced the entire dish.

If I were to make it again, I might leave out the sweet potatoes and do all eggplant. Or I might switch to regular potatoes. Either way, I think I'd want to go heavier on the eggplant. I might try roasting the eggplant slices in the oven rather than frying each one individually. There's a lot of oil in the lamb sauce anyway, so I think that would saturate the eggplant sufficiently in the oven.

Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes

1 large eggplant (or 2 medium)

canola oil

1 lb. ground lamb

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

2 t. ginger

2 T. ghee

1 T. paprika

¼ c. berbere paste

4 T. butter

4 T. flour

2 c. milk

½ c. shredded mozzarella

1 egg, beaten

½ t. curry powder

2 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 serrano, seeded and minced

1 green onion chopped

Salt to taste

Directions
Cut eggplant into slices 1 cm thick. Toss with kosher salt and leave to drain for 20-30 min.

Peel sweet potatoes and slice ¼ in. thick. Boil potatoes in salted water until just tender, then drain and leave to cool.

Rinse eggplant with cold water and pat dry with dish towel. In heavy iron skillet, fry eggplant slices over medium heat with about 3 T. of oil, refreshing oil as needed. Dry eggplant slices on paper towel and leave to cool.

Put onion, garlic, and ginger in food processor and process til smooth. Heat ghee over medium heat (I used a non-stick pan). Stir in paprika, about 1 min. Stir in berbere paste, about 1 min. Stir in onion mixture and cook, stirring occasionally until it loses raw aroma, about 5-10 min. Stir in ground lamb and cook until done. (Lamb can be covered and simmered at lower heat to retain water.)

Make bechamel sauce: Over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour, stirring constantly for about 1 min. Whisk in milk, stirring frequently until sauce thickens and begins to bubble. Take off heat. Stir in cheese. Stir in egg. Stir in curry powder and salt to taste.

In casserole dish (our red one), layer a bit more than half of the sweet potatoes, overlapping them. Layer a bit more than half eggplant, overlapping. Spoon half meat sauce over. Repeat with remaining sweet potatoes, eggplant, and meat sauce. Pour curry bechamel sauce over the top in a thick layer. If any cheese is left over, sprinkle on top.

Bake at 350 uncovered for 45 min or until browned on top.

Mix tomatoes, green onion, serrano and salt to taste. Serve as a garnish/side salad to the mousakka.