As the weather cools down I do start looking towards pie type things to add to our meal plan and suddenly my Lentil and Vegetable Moussaka recipe popped into my head! If you follow me on Instagram, you will know that I have revised the old recipe and made it even better. If you’re not following, you’re missing out! I post some sneaky recipes direct to there now, so you could be grabbing yourself a little snack recipe!
Anyway, back to the cooler weather! As you probably know we love walking and do about 10 miles every day so needing something warming and filling after all that exercise and exploring is important. Especially when the weather gets cooler.
Lentil and Vegetable Moussaka is a perfect after walk meal as it is packed with veggie protein and flavour. It is also warming with the cinnamon.
The last version of this was a bit of a faff, so I have simplified it down a bit and made it a little less time intensive. It still takes some time, but nowhere near as long! I made this on a weeknight so it can be done.
In my last version of lentil and vegetable moussaka, I used my food processor to speed things up, but found tit to be just as quick and less washing by just doing it by hand. A good-sized and weighted kitchen knife with a sharp blade is just the key to getting on in the kitchen.
The layers stayed in place much better in this version and the lentils settled perfectly so that I could cut out a good wedge of the moussaka for serving. A simple leaf salad goes brilliantly with it too – even in winter!
Get your meal plan ready for the colder months with my delicious and filling lentil and vegetable moussaka.
Ingredients:
2 medium aubergines sliced into thin rings
A spray bottle of olive oil (don’t worry, you’re not using it all!)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 sweet pepper, roughly chopped
1 small courgette, finely sliced
120 ml vegetarian white wine
1 medium sweet potato, cut into 1 cm dice
1 handful of fresh dill
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100 g red lentils
400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
600 g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
50 ml soya milk
2 free-range eggs
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tub of vegetarian soft cheese
100 g cheddar cheese, grated
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 C
Line a baking sheet with a non stick liner and arrange the aubergine slices onto the sheet in a single layer (or as best you can)
Lightly spray the aubergine slices with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt
Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until drier but still pliable then remove onto a plate so that you can bake the potato slices
Meanwhile, add a little glug of olive oil to a medium saucepan and cook the onions gently for about 4 minutes until softened
Pour in the wine and heat until the wine is reduced by half
Add the courgette, sweet pepper and sweet potato cubes, dill, oregano and cinnamon and cook until they turn golden (about 5 minutes)
Add the lentils, tinned tomatoes and 240 ml of water to the pan and stir to combine
Simmer the vegetable mixture on low for 20 minutes
Lay the potato slices onto the same tray and spray with a little more olive oil
Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes
Once the potatoes have finished cooking and the lentil and vegetable mix has thickened, remove from the heat and grab a large rectangular glass dish
Layer 1/2 of the aubergine slices on the bottom of the dish, followed by 1/2 of the lentil mixture and a layer of 1/2 the potatoes
Repeat the layering a second time using up all of the ingredients
In another bowl, combine the soft cheese, soya milk, eggs and lemon juice and whisk until smooth
Pour over the layer in the dish covering all of the top
Sprinkle the top liberally with the grated cheddar cheese and pop into the oven for 45 minutes until the to is golden
(if you don’t have time to do all this in the evening, you can prepare the layering during the day and then coat with the cheesy sauce in the evening before baking)
Serve with a simple crisp salad
Although it does look and sound like a lot of work, remember that you have 45 minutes of wine time cooking time where you can sit back and relax while it finishes off. And remember, this version is HUGELY quicker than the last version where you needed to individually fry each potato slice until cooked – boring!!
Lentil and vegetable moussaka also seems better the next day for left overs too, as the flavours have had time to intensify and grow. Just stick the moussaka slice in your lunchbox and some salad in a separate tub or bag so that you can heat up your moussaka without wilting the salad leaves (done that one too many times!)
Looking forward to more wintery dishes!
Do you love Moussaka? What are your favourite winter warmers? Are you looking forward to the colder weather?
Let me know in the comments below! 🙂
- 2 medium aubergines sliced into thin rings
- A spray bottle of olive oil (don’t worry, you’re not using it all!)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 sweet pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 small courgette, finely sliced
- 120 ml vegetarian white wine
- 1 medium sweet potato, cut into 1 cm dice
- 1 handful of fresh dill
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 100 g red lentils
- 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 600 g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
- 50 ml soya milk
- 2 free-range eggs
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tub of vegetarian soft cheese
- 100 g cheddar cheese, grated
- Preheat the oven to 180 C
- Line a baking sheet with a non stick liner and arrange the aubergine slices onto the sheet in a single layer (or as best you can)
- Lightly spray the aubergine slices with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt
- Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until drier but still pliable then remove onto a plate so that you can bake the potato slices
- Meanwhile, add a little glug of olive oil to a medium saucepan and cook the onions gently for about 4 minutes until softened
- Pour in the wine and heat until the wine is reduced by half
- Add the courgette, sweet pepper and sweet potato cubes, dill, oregano and cinnamon and cook until they turn golden (about 5 minutes)
- Add the lentils, tinned tomatoes and 240 ml of water to the pan and stir to combine
- Simmer the vegetable mixture on low for 20 minutes
- Lay the potato slices onto the same tray and spray with a little more olive oil
- Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes
- Once the potatoes have finished cooking and the lentil and vegetable mix has thickened, remove from the heat and grab a large rectangular glass dish
- Layer 1/2 of the aubergine slices on the bottom of the dish, followed by 1/2 of the lentil mixture and a layer of 1/2 the potatoes
- Repeat the layering a second time using up all of the ingredients
- In another bowl, combine the soft cheese, soya milk, eggs and lemon juice and whisk until smooth
- Pour over the layer in the dish covering all of the top
- Sprinkle the top liberally with the grated cheddar cheese and pop into the oven for 45 minutes until the to is golden
- (if you don’t have time to do all this in the evening, you can prepare the layering during the day and then coat with the cheesy sauce in the evening before baking)
- Serve with a simple crisp salad
7 comments
I got so bored of moussaka when I was a kid, but this version looks tasty. Will definitely be looking over some of your other recipes!
Thanks, Rhiannon. I hope you find some great recipes to try while you browse 😀
I so prefer a veggie moussaka to a meat one, so this sounds delicious, total comfort food.
Definitely comfort food – especially as the nights get darker. Veggie Moussaka is the best 😀
I’ve not had moussaka in years (since a Greek holiday in fact!) I might just have to make this 🙂
I ate so much delicious mousakka when we went island hopping around Greece, and I can’t make anything that comes close to that. But I need to try this lentil version for sure!
This looks delicious. Totally my cup of tea – I ‘ll have to give it ago. Great photos too. x