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Making Serbian Musaka with Potatoes

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This Authentic Serbian Musaka is Made with Potatoes and Ground Beef

You may know musaka as moussaka, but Serbs spell it musaka.

We serve this as one of the dishes in our Slava meal. Because we enjoy it so much, and because it's healthy , we also eat it at other times. I have made the low-fat version here. You can make it a bit richer by substituting sour cream for the plain yogurt (which is how I used to make it). It will also taste a bit richer if you use the full pound of ground beef the recipe calls for. I cooked the full pound and then put half away to use in something else, since we are trying to cut down on meat consumption. If you aren't, use all the beef you cook here. I have always made this with nonfat milk, but use whole or low-fat milk if you like it better.

This dish can be assembled and covered with foil and then refrigerated until you are ready to bake it -- maybe in a day or two. Allow about 90 minutes of baking time in a preheated oven. Assembly time takes about 45 minutes.The recipe serves six adults as a meal.

One nice thing about musaka is that it's even better the second day, so left-overs are very tasty. They are best when reheated in the oven or toaster oven rather than in the microwave, since the crispness of the top potatoes is lost in the microwave. Now, let's make musaka.

Let's Assemble the Ingredients for Musaka

That way we won't forget anything.

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup plain yogurt (approximately) or sour cream if you want a richer version
  • 2 cups milk. I used non-fat.
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 5-6 medium potatoes
  • Olive or other oil. (My mother in law used to use bacon grease for added flavor, but we are trying to use healthy fats.)
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • One medium or large onion, chopped

Vegetables are a must on a diet.

I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. ~Jim Davis

You will need these items to cook the musaka.

If you don't have them, order them now.

To make musaka you will need a large skillet, a one quart glass or plastic measuring cup for liquids, a 3 -quart 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish (I prefer glass), a potato peeler, a good knife to cut potatoes, and a wire whisk. I'm assuming you have most of these, but if you lack one of them, now's the time to get it, since these are all essential kitchen items.
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Before starting to make musaka, put on your apron.

Here's one that's just perfect!

I love-heart potato apron
I love-heart potato by Edibility

Before we get started, let's get the musaka baking pan ready.

Measure 3 tablespoons of the olive oil into the baking dish. Tilt the dish up and down and from side to side until the oil is evenly spread on the bottom of the pan. Sorry the picture didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but I think you get the idea.

Now we can start preparing the musaka

First we will brown the ground beef and onion in a large skillet

Put the chopped onions and ground beef into skillet and keep breaking up beef as it cooks. Keep mixing and cooking as the meat browns and onions get tender.

Put the chopped onions and ground beef into skillet and keep breaking up beef as it cooks. Keep mixing and cooking as the meat browns and onions get tender.

Put the chopped onions and ground beef into skillet and keep breaking up beef as it cooks. Keep mixing and cooking as the meat browns and onions get tender.
This is how it should look when the meat is browned.
Drain the fat from the meat mixture in colander into a bowl.
To save time, I usually cook more ground beef and onion than I need for a dish I'm making and stick half in a bag for the freezer to use in chili or some other main dish later. I put half of this away, since we are cutting down on meat. If you don't care how much meat you consume, you will want to use the whole pound for the musaka.

Let's mix the topping first.

First, break the four eggs into the quart measuring cup.<br />

First, break the four eggs into the quart measuring cup.

First, break the four eggs into the quart measuring cup.
Beat the eggs with a fork until whites and yolks are well mixed. You should have almost a cup of eggs.
Now add yogurt or sour cream until the eggs come up to the 2-cup mark in the cup.
Whisk the yogurt and eggs until well blended.
Now add milk up to the quart line on the cup and whisk the milk into the egg-yogurt mixture until well blended.

Now we can assemble the musaka

First let's start peeling and slicing the potatoes.

I peel and slice the potatoes one at a time, in case I don't need them all. Although I had six potatoes set aside, I only needed to use five of them. Slice them thin, as uniformly as you can, about 1/8 -1/4 inch thick. <br /> <br /> It's time to preheat the oven to 450 F now.

I peel and slice the potatoes one at a time, in case I don't need them all. Although I had six potatoes set aside, I only needed to use five of them. Slice them thin, as uniformly as you can, about 1/8 -1/4 inch thick.

It's time to preheat the oven to 450 F now.

I peel and slice the potatoes one at a time, in case I don't need them all. Although I had six potatoes set aside, I only needed to use five of them. Slice them thin, as uniformly as you can, about 1/8 -1/4 inch thick.

It's time to preheat the oven to 450 F now.
Make your first potato layer about 2-3 potato slices thick so that about a fourth to a third of the depth of the pan is filled. You want the surface to be fairly even. This took me about two and a half potatoes. Sprinkle the layer with salt to taste. You can add pepper if you like it. I don't like it, so I don't use it. I figure that those who do can add it at the table. I don't use much salt, either, because my husband is supposed to cut his sodium. He adds a salt substitute at the table and I add more salt.
Now spread the meat and onion mixture evenly over the potato layer. If you use the full pound of ground beef, your layer won't look as skimpy as mine.
Now make another layer of potatoes to completely cover the meat mixture. Keep the top surface as flat as you can. This took me another two and a half potatoes of medium size. Sprinkle this potato layer with salt to taste.
Now take the egg/yogurt/milk mixture and pour it evenly over the top of the musaka. If you did the layering right, it should not come all the way up to the top of the pan.
Cover the musaka tightly with foil. It helps if you spray the underside of the foil with Pam so the potatoes won't stick to it. I forgot, and some of them stuck. Put it in the oven and cook, covered with the foil, for an hour.
After an hour, take the musaka out of the oven and remove the foil carefully, setting it aside. Poke a large fork into the potatoes to see if it penetrates them easily. If so, they are tender. Put the musaka back into the oven for about 20-30 minutes more until the top is brown (as in introductory picture at top of this lens. Browner is better to some tastes.) If the fork does not go in easily put the foil back on and continue to bake until the potatoes pass the test (about 10-15 minutes.) then continue as above.
When the musaka is done, let it cool for about five minutes in the pan and serve in squares. We had a green salad with this today, and sourdough garlic bread. <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/serbian-tomato-salad" target="_blank">Serbian Tomato Salad </a> is also good with this.

Moussaka: Potatoes or Eggplant?

Do you have a preference for making or eating moussaka (musaka) with eggplant or with potatoes? Or do you like it any way you can get it?

Do you have a strong preference for moussaka made with either eggplant or potatoes?

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I definitely prefer it made with potatoes.

daria369 says:

I never had musaka with anything but potatoes.

Posted October 21, 2011

MaxReily says:

I just like potatoes better, although eggplant is good in some things, too.

Posted July 27, 2011

Tolovaj says:

Potatoes are my choice. And I tried fish instead of meat. It was great!

Posted July 01, 2011

Sandra Kalenic says:

I just made this for myself and my three kids... they eat it at school...they all LOVED it and spooned pavlaka on it.....

Posted May 28, 2011

Sara says:

I love musaka!! Potatoes are so, so tasty. :)

Posted December 20, 2010

I think it tastes best made with eggplant

mivvy says:

I make mousaka with both eggplant and potatoes

Posted August 13, 2011

joyce horvath says:

eggplant please

Posted August 11, 2011

sheilamarie says:

I have only had it with eggplant -- funny for a potato girl like myself. But I have probably made something similar using potatoes. I just didn't realize it was called moussaka, too.

Posted March 30, 2011

Richard says:

Eggplant is best its more authentic

Posted September 29, 2010

bethd821 says:

I've never had it, but I thought I'd even out the debate. Sounds delicious either way.

Posted February 07, 2010

 
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Moussaka Recipes from Blogs

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One of the biggest draws ? the food ? features all the classic Greek recipes such as Souvlaki, Spanakopita, Lamb Shanks, Moussaka, Gyros and, new this year, Dolmathes, meat and rice stuffed grape leaves. In addition, expect a wide variety of the most ...
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Thank you for watching me make musaka. I hope you enjoyed it.

Please let me know you were here.

Do you make a different version of musaka or moussaka? Most people think it's only made with eggplant, but my husband's family always made it this way.

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Barb really enjoys cooking when she has time, but most of all she enjoys eating the results. She tries to cook healthy and nutritious meals most of the time.
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BarbRad

In my life I've been student, public library clerk, English teacher in public school, elementary teacher in private schools,card buyer for Logos Bookstore... more »

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