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This is a variation of a recipe/inspired by the recipe of the almost identical name from the recipe book Persepolis: Vegetarian Recipes from Peckham, Persia and Beyond by Sally Butcher, Baked Mushroom Mini Moussakas.

This is a recipe where if you can get Aubergines 🍆 , Sweet potato (or potato 🥔 , or even a squash 🎃), onion and large tomatoes 🍅 that are all similar sizes to the portobello or large flat Mushrooms all the better. It will make assembling the stacks much easier and look neater.

The recipe calls for labneh which is a greek yoghurt that is salted and very well strained - almost to a soft cheese thickness. It is exceptionally easy to make even in vegan form. You can use a shop bought soy yoghurt but make sure it is just yoghurt, no sugar, no flavours or thickeners or similar. (This may work with almond milk yoghurt or cashew nut milk but not coconut milk yoghurt, but I know it works exceptionally well with soya yoghurt.) You simply want plain yoghurt nothing more. Making a vegan labneh is no more difficult than making a dairy version (and if you want a dairy version, well just get a tub of strained greek yoghurt and follow the same instructions.) You'll need about 500ml of soya yoghurt and you'll need to stir in about 1/3 tsp of fine sea salt. Then you can pour the whole lot into several thicknesses of cheesecloth and tie & hang over a bowl, or pour into a nut milk bag (though these can be too fine) or even a metal sieve and leave it to strain for 3-4 hrs over a bowl. If you're using a sieve you may benefit from giving it a shake once an hour. Stirring carefully by lifting the salted yoghurt from the bottom of the sieve, against the sieve upwards using a large spoon also works well without forcing yoghurt through the sieve. This is the method I've found to be most sucessful.

Obviously if you want a non-vegan moussaka just substitute dairy yoghurt for the soy yoghurt and dairy halloumi for the vegan halloumi. And whilst we haven't tried it, we both reckon that a vegan feta such as the one here (Recipe - (Vegan) Baked Almond Nut Cheese (Feta Style) - revisited) would work just as well as the vegan halloumi because they are both salty cheeses, just crumble it finely.

The recipe calls for 4-8 large flat mushrooms. If they are large, go with 4 if they are smaller 6 or 8 as needed. Remember the mushroom will shrink as it cooks.

Finally, the recipe calls for sweet potato but it can be replaced with any potato (as per the original recipe) or even a slice of pumpkin or squash such as butternut squash.

Ingredient (Serves 4 as a main)
3 largish tomatoes, sliced roughly 5mm thick rings
1 large onion, sliced thinly in rings
lots of garlic, sliced thinly
1 tbsp of fresh oregano, chopped
Salt & pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1 medium sweet potato or butternut squash/pumpkin/potato, sliced ~5mm thick
1 medium aubergine, ~5mm thick slices (aiming for rings of aubergines, not strips)
8-16 tbsp tomato passata
4-8 portobello or large flat field mushrooms, stalks removed.
200g labneh (salted, strained, plain soy yoghurt - see note for making your own)
big handful of fresh parsley, chopped
100g breadcrumbs
200g grated vegan halloumi, (it goes without saying that you don't have to use vegan halloumi if you're not vegan!)

Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C ( 375° F /Gas Mark 5). Place the tomatoes, onion and garlic in an ovenproof dish, drizzle with Olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Do not allow it to overcook.
  2. Fry the potato or sweet potato slices in some hot cooking oil until crispy and browning. Set aside on kitchen paper.
  3. Fry the aubergine slices in the same hot cooking oil until brown. Again set aside to drain on kitchen paper.
  4. Spread the labneh (salted plain soya yoghurt) equally over the gills of the mushrooms.
  5. Next add a slice of cooked sweet potato (or squash), spread a tablespoon of passata over, then a layer of the cooked tomatoes and onions followed by a slice of cooked aubergine and finally another thin layer of passata (roughly 1tbsp). Repeat with the other mushrooms.
  6. In a bowl, mix the grated vegan halloumi with the parsley and breadcrumbs. Distribute it evenly across the 4, 6 or 8 mushrooms and firm it down gently to get it to stay put and not fall off.
  7. Move the mushrooms stacks on a greased ovenproof tray (or pyrex lasagne dish with lid if making a ½ quantity and bake covered with foil for ~20 minutes. The original recipe says to add a few splashes of water to the tray around the mushrooms, not over them). Then remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes until brown.

I'll add some photos once I've out of hospital and had chance to make it again.
 
I found a photo of the dish from the original book (the original recipe is also there) : Source Persepolis cookbook recipes

mushroom-moussaka.jpg
 
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