Easy French Ratatouille Recipe

Try this fragrant vegetable stew with eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes, this summer. This vegan Ratatouille recipe is utterly delicious with rich olive oil and garlic flavor.

Hello HTS Community

I was introduced to this dish after watching the very much loved movie, ‘Ratatouille‘ years back as a kid. Since then I always wondered how it would taste. Fast forward 10 years, and I was cooking the same french ratatouille in my kitchen and understood how simple ingredients make up for an amazing dish.

Hailing from the mediterranean cost of France, ratatouille is a summer dish mostly made using eggplants, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes, along with olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs. I am not doing the layered version today, as you might have seen in the movie. We’re taking the rustic and authentic route.

Making ratatouille takes time and is a bit of work chopping all those vegetables. But, you can make a big batch over the weekend and enjoy it in different ways over the week:

• With rice or quinoa, as a vegetarian meal
• Over toasted bread with cheese
• Tossed with pasta
• On side with grilled fish or chicken
• Shakshuka style with eggs
• Made into a sandwich with cheese and fresh arugula

Ratatouille tastes a lot like Turkish Guvec, which is made in a similar fashion with some more vegetables. Both are super homely dishes and can feed a large party easily.

The thing that takes time with ratatouille is cooking all vegetables separately first, in order to brown them. And then later cooking them together with the herbs on low heat for at least 40 minutes. This is where the magic happens and vegetables start to break down, garlic and herbs start to infuse in every part of the pot and the tomatoes bind everything together. The best time to eat ratatouille is after this period.

This is a classic summer vegan recipe that celebrates vegetables. Some of the other vegan and vegetarian recipes that are fancy, healthy and damn tasty are Quinoa Patty with Asparagus, Buddha Bowl and Parmesan crusted Pumpkin slices.

Ingredients you will need:

• Eggplant- 1, large
• Zucchini- 1, large
• Bell pepper- 1, large
• Tomatoes- 2, large
• Onion- 1, large
• Garlic cloves- 3, large
• Olive oil- 4 tablespoons
• Oregano- 1 teaspoon
• Thyme- 1 teaspoon
• Basil- 2 teaspoon
• Salt and black pepper- to taste

Steps to make French Ratatouille:

• Start with putting tomatoes in boiling water for 15 seconds and then transferring them to ice cold water to remove their skin. Keep aside

• Chop the eggplant in medium sized squares and sprinkle salt, keep aside while we prepare rest of the vegetables.

• Cut zucchini, bell pepper, onion, garlic and tomatoes as shown in the video and keep aside.

• Heat a large cast iron or steel pan or pot. Remember to use either cast iron or steel cookware only to get desired caramelization on vegetables. Do not use non-stick cookware for this recipe.

• Once the pot is hot, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and chopped eggplant. Sprinkle little salt and cook for about 5 minutes till the eggplant pieces become translucent. Remove them from the pot in a bowl. Don’t worry about them sticking to the pot and browning at the bottom, this is what we need.

• Add another tablespoon of olive oil and cook zucchini pieces for about 4 minutes with a little salt. Remove them from the pot in the same bowl as eggplant.

• Cook bell peppers in a similar fashion for about 3 minutes and remove from pot.

• Time to cook the onions, add them to the pot with 2 tablespoon of olive oil, followed by garlic cloves. Let these cook for 2 minutes and then add salt, black pepper, oregano, thyme and basil.

• To this add all the vegetables that we’ve cooked so far along with the tomatoes. Mix everything gently with a spatula and cover the pot, reduce heat to low and let this cook for at least 40 minutes.

• Stir the vegetables once every 10 minutes and taste for salt adjustments. Serve with fresh basil leaves and bread or rice on side.

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