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Musaka

Name: Musaka
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Bulgarian
Ingredients: 1200 g Potatoes; 500 g Minced pork; 200 g Onion; 2 tbsp Tomato paste; 1 tbsp Sweet smoked paprika; 4 tbsp Sunflower oil; 2 leaves Bay leaves; 400 g Full-fat natural yoghurt; 3 piece Eggs; 300 ml Water; 2 tsp Fine sea salt; 1 tsp Ground black pepper

Diced potatoes baked with minced pork, onion and paprika, finished with a yoghurt-and-egg topping that sets to a golden crust. One of the simplest things to cook and very hard to get wrong.

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 60 min
Difficulty: Easy

About this dish

Bulgarian musaka shares nothing with the Greek version but the name: no aubergine and no béchamel, but potatoes and a topping of yoghurt beaten with eggs that goes on only at the end. It is the dish of the weekday lunch — made from whatever is in the house, and eaten warm rather than scalding.

Gluten-free
Not vegetarian because of Minced pork
Contains dairy because of Full-fat natural yoghurt

Ingredients

6servings

1200gPotatoes
500gMinced pork
200gOnion
2tbspTomato paste
1tbspSweet smoked paprika
4tbspSunflower oil
2leavesBay leaves
400gFull-fat natural yoghurt
3piecesEggs
300mlWater
2tspFine sea salt
1tspGround black pepper

Instructions

Finely chop the onion and soften it in the oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the mince, break it up with a wooden spoon and fry for 7 minutes, until the water has gone and the meat has browned.
12 min
Tip: Wait for the liquid to evaporate before you expect colour. While the mince sits in its own juices it is boiling, not frying.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the tomato paste, paprika, bay leaves, salt and pepper.
8 min
Tip: Paprika burns in seconds and turns bitter. That is why it goes into a pan that has left the heat, not into one at its hottest.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2 cm cubes. Mix them with the meat in a roasting dish, pour over the water and level the surface.
10 min
Tip: Cubes, not slices: every forkful then has both potato and meat, and the potato cooks evenly.
Bake at 200 °C for about 40 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the surface has taken colour. Remove and turn the oven down to 180 °C.
40 min
Tip: If the water goes before the potatoes soften, add another half cup. A dry musaka is a more common mistake than a wet one.
Beat the yoghurt with the eggs and a pinch of salt, pour it evenly over the dish and return it to the oven for 15–20 minutes, until the topping is set and blushing at the edges. Rest 15 minutes before cutting.
20 min
Tip: The topping goes on at the end and never at the start — added early it curdles and separates into water and lumps.