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Magnificent Meatless Moussaka

What you need: 

Bechamel Sauce:
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup soy milk
Filling:
4 medium potatoes
1 large eggplant
2 tomatoes, chopped
10 mushrooms, sliced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 package Yves (or other) veggie ground round (simulated ground beef)
Seasoning: olive oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and bay leaf

What you do: 

Peel and cut the potatoes to 1/4 thick slices. Cut the top and bottom off the eggplant and cut into 1/2 thick slices. Place potatoes and eggplant onto broiling pan, and drizzle with olive oil, as well as a shake of salt and pepper (you may have to divide into two batches, due to space). broil for about 10 mins on each side, or until you notice that the potatoes are golden and the eggplant is steaming and slightly mushy. turn off oven but leave potatoes and eggplant inside to keep them warm.
In a skillet, fry the onion and ground round in some margarine until onions are translucent.
In a large bowl, combine chopped tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini and red pepper with onion and ground round mixture. Season with salt, pepper, and plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg.
To make bechamel sauce, melt the margarine in a saucepan over low heat, and mix in flour but don't allow it to brown. once you have a mushy mixture, SLOWLY add some soymilk. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon, then add more soymilk etc... until mixture is thick and creamy. Place a bay leaf in mixture as it thickens to add some flavour.
Now to combine everything: In a large ovenproof dish, layer the bottom with some eggplant slices, top with filling mix, then potato slices, then filling and so forth. Finally, pour the bechamel sauce over the whole thing.
Bake covered for 30 mins at 375 F and then uncovered for another 20 mins (to evaporate some of the juices).
Serve with plain soy yogurt and soy feta, and some nice crusty vegan bread. Tastes even better the next day!

Preparation Time: 
1.5 hours
Cooking Time: 
Servings: 
6
Recipe Category: 

SO HOW'D IT GO?

Awesome, will make again! We used gold and red potatoes and doubled the sauce as another person had suggested.

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;)b  Made this for Easter dinner with the lemony potatos and a vegan Greek salad.  Excellent!

I agree about increasing the bechamel  sauce. I used a 9 X13 baking dish and made a triple batch to cover everything with a nice layer.  I did not use a bay leaf, but nutmeg and white pepper in the sauce.

I sauteed the mushrooms, zucchini and peppers, but add the diced tomato last.  I grilled the eggplant and potatos.

I baked it covered the night before and reheated it without the cover.  The flavors really had a chance to meld. It wowed the skeptics. Thanks for the great recipe.

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I didn't have any nutmeg so I substituted mace for it. I also added some nutritional yeast to the bechamel sauce too. It turned out great.

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so this one took a long time. the prep work was theraputic and the outcomes were delicious.  i didn't use the ground soy, i substituted it with quinoa, very tasty.  i would definitely make this again, but with no cinnamon.  is this a staple in traditional moussaka?  ;)b

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I have never had moussaka before so I didn't know what to expect.  I am certainly glad I tried this recipe out though!  I didn't have any ground round so I just used some re-hydrated TVP and unfortunately I was out of mushies (can't wait to add them in next time).  The dash of cinnamon and nutmeg really make this dish unique and delicious  :)>>>

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I used 1/2 cup of quinoa in place of the ground round.  MmmMmm...good.

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This took a long time to make, but it was worth it!

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I made this for Passover, and for my sister, who hates mushrooms, so it had to be modified a bit. Instead of soymilk, I substituted water (soy's not "KP" - Kosher for Passover) and of course, matzo meal instead of flour in the bechamel sauce, which I doubled per Zoie's comment. Instead of veggie ground "beef" (also not KP), I used ground walnuts, which to my surprise, worked amazingly well - when frying with the onions they took on a great flavor and softened nicely - I may even stop buying the fake ground beef! Maybe this change was the reason it came out very dry, but I added about two cups of (vegetarian) matzo ball soup broth and that fixed it (I left out the salt, originally, too, so the salty broth was a remedy for that, too)!

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