Recipe Review - Lentil Moussaka - Full Steam Ahead

[JaneeZee]

Lentil Moussaka from Full Steam Ahead Pg 132

4/5

This is much yummier & easier than I thought it would  be.  First time I made it I was feeding teenage boys.  They took one look at it & said "I'm not hungry, I'lll just have a little bit".......3 helpings later they agreed it was pretty good!!!!

Make sure you don't get fooled by the eggplant/aubergine amount.  It says 2 aubergine but only 400g.  The last one I bought was 750g!!!

The main tweak I would make is to increase cooking speed of lentil sauce to speed 1.5 to avoid it drying out & sticking to base.  I also use a 400g can of tomatoes instead of the recommended 300g (we only have 400g cans here).

I've also heard that when cooking sauces with wheaten flour you should always cook it at 100 degrees not 90 even when cooking milky sauces.  The first time I did it the sauce was light & really fluffy - the most recent one I did (tonight) wasn't as fluffy but it stil tasted fab.

Finally, it makes a large amount - a big lasagna dish worth so it's an excellent budget cooking dish.

[Cornish Cream]

 Thanks for the review JaneeZee, must try this recipe 

[NomesFog]

This dish was DELICIOUS!

My husband doesn't particularly like eggplant or lentils much (but I do) but he had two servings of this!

I made a couple of tweeks tho. I used fresh tomatoes instead of tinned (ran out) and i added a layer of tasty cheese inbetween the lentils and the white sauce (wanted to use it up) and i added a touch of salt to the white sauce.
I think I'll do the same thing next time as it was just perfect!

I'll certainly be making this dish again....and again! 

[emjrose]

This is my favorite recipe from Full Steam Ahead, it is very tasty and a good option for a "non-meat" meal. My kids love it (the cheesy sauce wins them over), although they don't like the look of the eggplant so I mash it up on their plate before serving so they don't notice it.

[Cornish Cream]

Made this tonight.Substituted zucchini instead of eggplant ( DH hates eggplant  )It was a very running,possibly should have "salted" the zucchini before steaming them.We loved it,very tasty
The lentil sauce did catch on the bottom of my TM bowl,even though I upped the speed as JaneeZee suggested.

[Itsnotartitsdinner]

Sounds Yum. As much as I would love the recipe it probably isn't worth the cost of the book. I'm trying to get away from books too. Much prefer soft copies!

[Cornish Cream]

Sounds Yum. As much as I would love the recipe it probably isn't worth the cost of the book. I'm trying to get away from books too. Much prefer soft copies!

Farfallina has posted the recipe here from FSA,INAID.

[Siren]

I've just made this (substituting a carrot for the red/green pepper, and cornflour for the regular flour, adding a little extra), and it was excellent.  Much deeper in flavour than I expected, and with a slightly different texture to the lentil sauce, owing to pre-soaking the lentils.

The sauce didn't stick at all for me -- indeed, I had no problems of any sort with the recipe, which worked really well.  My recipe requests 400g tomatoes, not the 300g mentioned by another poster, and my two aubergines came to 450g in total which I reckoned was close enough.  I love the method of steaming sliced aubergines in the Varoma while cooking sauce in the bowl-jug-thing, and will use this idea when cooking other dishes.

Definitely one I will make again -- so much less washing up than when I make the various moussaka elements on the hob!

[Itsnotartitsdinner]

Thanks CC have added it to my calendar for two weeks time.