actually, italian seasoning is closer to "chubritsa", not basil... There are online stores where you can purchase it from, but if you know somebody that is Bulgarian, they always have that at their home, you can always borrow some.

Easy and the family loved it! I made the following changes: don't drain meat if using lean ground beef, eliminated the water and added 1 cup beef broth, simmered (covered) for 25 min, used basil instead of summer savory. Big change did not do the yogurt/egg piece instead cut 4oz cream cheese in chunks and dropped on dish before placing in oven, half way thru cooking used knife to spread melted cream cheese.

Was rather disappointed with this one...it was okay but I don't think I'd make it again.

This was really good & hearty. I didn't have many of the spices. I just put in about 1/2 tsp. of pepper & 3/4 Tbsp. basil. Cooked it on the stove until the potatoes were mostly tender and then cooked in the over at 350 for 45 min. I really liked how filling it was & inexpensive. I really liked the taste - the yogurt gives it a little zip. I served it w/ french green beans on the side which worked great. The casserole could have been a bit dry w/out having the green beans to mix in as you eat it. I'll definitely make it again.

I practically doubled the spices (as recommended)somehow this just came over as a disappointment. We are crazy about Turkish/Greek/Middle Eastern food; I just don't know what went wrong.

I used this as a base and made some changes. I used beef broth instead of water, crushed tomatoes instead of tomato sauce and omitted the olive oil. Seasonings ended up being 2t of Cilantro, 2t of Basil and 2t of Thyme. The dish tasted fabulous - especially the yogurt/egg top!! Warning - I had to up the temp of the oven (from 325 to 375) and cook on speed bake an additional 20 minutes (after the initial 40 minutes) to get the potatoes to cook through. Knowing this, I'll definitely make this again, but will double the egg/yogurt topping mix.

This is the traditional BULGARIAN musaka. The only difference, I find is that this recipe uses ground beef. Bulgarians usually prepare the dish with ground pork. The Greek version usually has eggplant in it. It a tasty dish, and it is very easy to prepare.

This dish is very tasteful but actually all it is is hamburger and potatoes with a slight tomato taste. Don't think I'll do it again. Nothing special. Authentic Musaka has eggplant.

Altered this a bit based on reviews. Used fine herbs in place of chubritsa. Omitted the EVOO all together...just browned my meat, potatoes, and onions and drained off what little grease there was. Added a 14.5 can of diced tomatoes in sauce, doubled the other spices and added 2 more chopped tomatoes and let this simmer to help with the 'raw' potato issue. Omitted the water altogether. I also added eggplant. Salted the eggplant first and placed in a colander w/weight on top to squeeze out that bitter juice. Rinsed off and sauteed in EVOO and layered the meat/potato mixture and eggplant. It was amazing how much this smelled like gyro meat while it was cooking and also tasted a bit like it too. Loved the easy yogurt sauce in place of the harder to make Bechamel. Sprinkled the top of the yogurt sauce w/a little nutmeg to make it more like a traditional Bechamel sauce found on Moussaka. Covered at first then the last ten minutes took the lid off. The potatoes were completely done. Also only used 2 potatoes and 1 larger eggplant.

Our family enjoyed this new flavor. Next time I will add less water and more tomato sauce.

I cooked the potatoes for 5 min as suggested. I also drained the fat from the beef after it cooked. Adding water made it way too soupy so I had to bake it for an extra 20 min to get some of the water off. Taste was average.

Bland, underdone potatoes...I would not recommend this recipe.

I served this recipe to a group of Turks and Bulgarians. I didn't tell them what I was making and I am American, so when one of them took a bite and said "Oh my god! You made Mmusaka!" I could not have been more pleased. One lady didn't even believe it was my first time making it. The thing is that I ended up adding about three times the amount of paprika and twice the cumin and cayenne pepper in order to make it come out with what I consider enough flavor. But then, I (and most Bulgarians and Turks) like strong flavor. Next time I will also add about three times the Chubritsa (summer savory) which I found at a mediterranean grocery store, because I could not taste it at all in the dish. I boiled the potatoes for about 15 minutes before cooling them in cold water, then peeled and cubed them. I used about 12 ounces of plain homemade tomato sauce. I drained the meat after cooking and found the amount of olive oil called for in the recipe to be way too much; 2 tablespoons is plenty for browning the beef. I also added a little less water to the mix prior to baking. Even though I had to modify the ingredients significantly, I am going to give this recipe 4/5 stars because my Turkish boyfriend is still bragging to all his friends about my cooking because of it:-) One more note: the Turkish version of this recipe definitely calls for eggplant, which can be bought sliced and canned from wherever you buy the chubritsa. Thanks for sharing this recipe Lisa!

We really like this. I browned the ground beef in a little bit of olive oil and then drained the oil and fat. The potatoes were a tiny bit crunchy, but not too bad. I loved the yogurt sauce. My husband mixed a little barbeque sauce in with his to give it a little zing.

This is both Greek and Turkish as the cusines are very simmilar. My Turkish mother-in-law taught me how to make this with sliced eggplant added. I also do not add extra water and finish cooking in the over for about 10 minutes before serving with the lid off. Tastes the best when made with homemade yougurt.

This recipe is GREEK. It is a family favorite.