"Eggplant casserole" or "Mesakaa" a mouthwatering vegetarian dish.
Being vegetarian does not mean that your dish should be always green or non-tasty. Nowadays vegetarians have invented genius vegetarian dishes that make the decision of being vegetarian more than easy.
Egyptian cuisine is considered the leader of the vegetarian cuisine. Across ages, vegetables are far less expensive than meat in Egypt. As a result, Egyptian cuisine depends mainly on vegetables and legumes.
Mesakaa or eggplant casserole consists of fried eggplant, pepper slices that are immersed in a special tomato sauce. Mesakaa is a genius mouthwatering dish. It is the favorite dish of all Egyptians. Sometimes, Egyptians add cooked ground beef to Mesakaa but it is mainly vegetarian. Mesakaa ingredients and preparation are very easy and non fancy. Here the recipe of Mesakaa;
Cooking time: 45 min.
Serves: 2.
Ingredients:
For filling: • 3 cloves garlic, peeled. • ½ chili pepper. • ½ tablespoon salt. • 1 teaspoon cumin. • 1 teaspoon vinegar. • ½ small lemon juice. For Mesakaa: • 2 Italian eggplants (cut in slices “0.4 inch each”, soaked with 1 tablespoon salt for 1 hr. “to remove its water”). • 4 peppers cut in half. • 1 tablespoon salt. • Oil. For tomato sauce: • 1 cup of tomato puree. • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced. • ½ teaspoon salt. • ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
Preparation:
For the filling: • Add all ingredients to the food processor and mix them together. For tomato sauce: • In a deep pan, add vegetable oil over medium high heat, then add minced garlics. When you feel garlic smell, pour tomato cup, salt and pepper then cook for 10 min. For Mesakaa: • In a frying pan, preheat oil over medium high heat. When oil is nicely hot, add eggplant slices and cook both sides until it is golden in color. Remove eggplant to a strainer to remove extra oil. • Add pepper pieces to the frying pan and cook until it is crispy, then remove pepper to a strainer to remove extra oil. • Stuff eggplant and pepper with the filling mixture and place them in rows in a casserole (one eggplant row followed by a pepper row).
• Pour tomato sauce over the casserole. • Turn on the oven over 360°F, then put the casserole for 5 min.
I hope that you will enjoy this delicious Egyptian dish and I would love to see your comments below.
