Vegan Moussaka

After about 10 minutes, take eggplant pieces and wipe off any excess water with a paper towel. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and brush with oil or broth. 

Put eggplant in the oven and broil. Start with 5 minutes on each side, keep checking and leave until golden brown. Mine was 8 minutes on the first side, and 5 on the second.

You can choose to chop the cooked chickpeas and walnuts now instead of chopping the whole mixture after. Simple pulse in a food processor.

Add chickpeas, lentils and walnuts, sauté 1-2 minutes. 

Add broth, fresh chopped tomatoes and parsley. 

Cook partially covered for 20 minutes until the liquid is almost gone and beans are al dente. Then add the tomato sauce, wine and pepper. Stir and cook partially covered for another 5 minutes until most of the liquid is gone. Add more broth if needed.

Allow it to cool a bit, then if you haven't pulsed the chickpeas and walnuts already, put the whole mixture into a food processor and pulse to make it a chunky ground meat like texture. This is optional, if you prefer to leave it whole, that’s fine too. Just take note that if you don’t pulse the mixture a bit the texture will not be as meaty.

Put ¼ cup breadcrumbs on the bottom to coat it and help prevent burning.

Line the dish with half of the eggplant pieces.

Sprinkle with ¼ of the parmesan.

Top with the “meat” mixture.

Sprinkle ¼ cup breadcrumbs on top.

Sprinkle with ¼ of the parmesan.

Place half of the eggplant pieces on top.

Sprinkle with ¼ of the parmesan.

Pour the béchamel over it.

Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs.

Sprinkle the top with the last ¼ of the parmesan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the top is brown. Make sure not to overbake or it will dry out. Allow it to cool so it can thicken and settle. 

Devour your hard work!