Seasoned Sea Salt, Garlic Pepper Seasoning, Green Onion Seasoning, Liquid Beef Stock, White Sauce Powder, Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
You will need
4 medium brinjals (see Ina’s Tip)
Ina Paarman’s Seasoned Sea Salt
olive oil
1 T (15 ml) butter
2 onions, chopped
Ina Paarman’s Green Onion Seasoning
2 cloves garlic, chopped
500 g beef mince
Ina Paarman’s Garlic Pepper Seasoning
2 T (30 ml) flour
1 x 125 g Ina Paarman’s Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
1 x 25 g Ina Paarman’s Liquid Beef Stock
½ cup (125 ml) water
2 bay leaves
2 T (30 ml) parsley, chopped
4 T (60 ml) Ina Paarman’s White Sauce Powder
4 T (60 ml) cold water
2 cups (500 ml) fresh full cream milk
2 T (30 ml) butter
1 egg, beaten
½ cup (125 ml) soft, fresh breadcrumbs
1 T (15 ml) melted butter or olive oil
1 wheel of feta cheese, crumbled
How to cut brinjals
There is a special way of slicing a brinjal. Slice it lengthways. In this way you are not cutting across the fibres
and less oil is absorbed.
This dish can happily be pre-prepared and refrigerated or frozen, but thawed, before baking. Bake for an extra 10 minutes if previously frozen or chilled.
Method
Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 200°C. Trim off the stem ends of the brinjals and slice lengthways into 1 cm thick slices. Pack them out on a lined baking tray and season lightly, one side only, with Seasoned Sea Salt, and drizzle generously with olive oil. Bake for 25 minutes until nicely browned. There is no need to turn. Remove tray from the oven and leave to stand. In a large frying pan add 2 T of olive oil and butter. Season the chopped onion with Green Onion Seasoning and brown the onions lightly. Stir in the garlic. Add the mince, break up and stir fry until red colour disappears. Season with Garlic Pepper Seasoning and sprinkle over flour. Stir in Tomato Pesto, Liquid Beef Stock, water and bay leaves. Simmer slowly with lid on for 15 minutes. Stir in parsley and leave to stand.
Sauce
Mix the White Sauce Powder with the cold water. Bring the milk nearly to the boil, add the white sauce slurry and stir until the sauce has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Add butter and allow to cool to touch temperature and then add beaten egg. Butter a medium size ovenproof dish, or large oven pan.
To assemble
Spoon layers of brinjal, meat, brinjal, meat, etc. into prepared ovenproof dish or oven pan. Pour the white sauce over the final brinjal layer. Mix the topping ingredients together and sprinkle over Moussaka. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C and bake for ± 40 minutes. Allow to cool a little before cutting into squares.
