Turkish Eggplant Moussaka “Patlıcan Oturtma / Musakka”

We are proud of having more than 150 eggplant dishes in Turkish cuisine, including karniyarik, imam bayildi, kebabs, salads, and more.
And eggplant moussaka, as we say, “patlıcan oturtma / or patlıcan mousaka” in Turkish, is one of the most common ones you can find in-home cooking
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Other Eggplant Dishes:
Stuffed Eggplant Karniyarik: https://youtu.be/mtgdOTTf-kg
Imam Bayildi: https://youtu.be/QJWlMiJHj5k
Chicken Eggplant Kebab: https://youtu.be/toiclu_KKIw
Roasted Eggplant Salad: https://youtu.be/Zqcb5Ma044g
Simple & Healthy Vegan Eggplant Dish éPatlican Silkme” https://youtu.be/LIKhhtVr1Jg
Eggplant Kebab: https://youtu.be/VUo9cl6d6e8
Turkish Köfte With Eggplant Base: https://youtu.be/bncgcFnqpqQ
Ingredients:
1 kg. preferably medium-size eggplant (big ones are ok too)
salt and water to soak the eggplants
vegetable oil to fry the eggplants
200gr. minced meat
1 big onion
3-4 tbsp olive oil
3-4 sweet green peppers (you can use bell pepper if you can’t find)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp red pepper paste
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp or more black pepper
3-4 medium size tomatoes (1 for the meat mixture, other for the top)
2-3 potatoes (optional)

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So let’s make it
I have 1 kg of eggplants
I cut them in strips take out the stems and as you can see I am slicing them in about 2 cm thickness.
I am going to soak them in salty water before frying this way the eggplants will not soak that much oil but still will be delicious because of the pre-frying.
Meanwhile, I am gonna prepare my minced meat filling.
I have big size onion
200gr. ground beef, couple of green peppers. I am using the widest pan available I am gonna cook my patlıcan oturtma eggplant mousaka in here. So use the widest pan. I am sauteing the onion in olive oil and meanwhile, I am gonna cut my green peppers after taking the seed out
my minces meat was frozen so it’s gonna take time to cook but we are going to use that extra time to dry the eggplants.
So I am squeezing out as much as I can the juice as you can see the juice turn into darker color. I am gonna let it drain a little bit.
Here my minced meat was ready. I m adding the green peppers.
and next the must-have ingredients tomato and red pepper paste. well, you don’t have to add red pepper paste if you cannot find but the tomato paste will give some extra color and taste. So even if I am in the summer season, I always like to add tomato paste and it is also a staple ingredient in most Turkish cuisine recipes.
After sauteing the tomato and red pepper paste for a couple of minutes I also added the garlic. It is almost ready. Before I season my mixture wanted to pat dry my eggplants. It is important because we gonna deep fry. For the seasoning some salt, one ripened tomato, I am gonna add the rest on top, some black pepper and that’s it. If you want you can also add some red pepper flakes for extra heat.
I am going to transfer my meat mixture to another bowl because after I fry my eggplants I am gonna use the same pan to stack the layers.
I am using medium size pan and heat up some vegetable oil. Make sure it is well heated. In the first one, it wasn’t.
And now you can see in the other pieces it already began to fry.
I also like to drain them a little bit from the oil with an extra spoon but if you gonna do it be careful because sometimes it can spatter.
After the second batch I decided to fry 2 potatoes because I really like to do my oturtma with potato all together it is optional so after the second batch is done I am gonna fry the potatoes and going to put them on the bottom layer. Because it takes more time to cook.
While frying the final batch I take out the stems of three medium-size tomatoes and cut them into slices.
Make sure all fried eggplants and potatoes are on an even layer and cover on top of it with this delicious minced meat and pepper mixture.
By the way, you can also make this in the oven, for the final step. İt will give even more aroma. And I am placing the sliced tomatoes on top of the mixture.
Add enough hot water not to cover all the way but a little bit less than that and cook on low heat until everything is soft for about half an hour.
It is always better to rest the dish for at least half an hour if you can, so all the tastes combine together and then serve.
I hope to see you in another delicious Turkish food recipes and travel vlogs. “Afiyet Olsun”