In this baked Italian dish, also known as eggplant parmigiana, slices of eggplant are breaded with a parmesan-breadcrumb mixture, fried, smothered with tomato sauce and topped with a crisp layer of gooey melted cheese.
Layers of pita bread, eggplant, rice, chickpeas and labneh (Greek yogurt) comprise this simple Middle Eastern dish, popular in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.
As with so many dishes from West Asia, it isn’t entirely clear where this one came from. Today, most people tend to associate this dish with Greece, but food historians are relatively certain (well, more than just guessing) that moussaka comes from the Middle East, perhaps Iraq c. 1200.