-
Preparation
30 minutes
-
Cooking
1 hour 30 minutes
-
Difficulty
Easy
If you are a fan of the famous animated movie Ratatouille, you are surely familiar with the delicious, attractive vegetable stew in the film. Let’s get into the kitchen and make this special and tasty dish right at home!
Ingredients for Ratatouille For 4 people
Bell peppers 3 pieces (any color is fine) Tomatoes 7 pieces Green zucchini 1 piece Yellow zucchini 1 piece Eggplant 1 piece Garlic 10 gr Onion 1/4 bulb Ground pepper 30 gr Rosemary 1 sprig Parsley 3 sprigs Olive oil 50 ml
How to choose ingredients
How to choose good bell peppers
- To choose good bell peppers, you should select those with a shiny, smooth, thick skin, still having the stem tightly attached to the body, when held, they feel heavy and have bright colors. These will be fresh and nutritious bell peppers.
- Do not choose soft, mushy bell peppers, with dark spots, dull color, and cracks because these are spoiled peppers and lack nutrients.
- Bell peppers have two types, male and female, if the tail of the pepper divides into 4, it is a female pepper, while if it divides into 3, it is a male. The female pepper usually has a sweet taste, often eaten raw, while the male pepper is sour and used for cooking dishes such as stir-fried dishes, grilled dishes,…
Tools needed
How to make Ratatouille
-
Prepare the bell peppers
After purchasing the bell peppers, wash them thoroughly, then roast them until the outer skin is charred on the gas stove, or use a torch to burn the skin until it is blackened.
Next, wrap each bell pepper in aluminum foil to allow them to steam for about 2 minutes, which will help soften the bell peppers and make it easier to peel off the charred skin.
Then, use a sharp knife to gently scrape off the blackened skin from the bell peppers, and remove the seeds inside. After that, rinse the bell peppers briefly with clean water.
-
Prepare other vegetables
Take 3 tomatoes, wash them clean, then use a knife to make a cross-cut at the bottom of the fruit and blanch them in boiling water for 30 seconds.
After blanching, remove the tomatoes and place them in a bowl of ice water, then peel off the skin from the cross-cut you made earlier.
Wash the remaining 4 tomatoes, then use a sharp knife to slice them into thin pieces about 2mm thick.
Peel and wash 3 cloves of garlic.
Chop rosemary leaves finely.
Wash the eggplant, zucchini, and yellow zucchini, then use a grater to slice them into thin pieces about 2mm thick.
Note: If you don’t have a grater, you can use a sharp knife to cut the eggplant and zucchini, but it will be difficult to achieve thin and uniform slices as with a grater.
-
Make the sauce
Add 3 bell peppers, 3 peeled tomatoes, 1/4 onion, 3 cloves of garlic, and 1/4 of both green and yellow zucchini into the pan and stir-fry on low heat.
Continue to add 3 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper to enhance the flavor, using a spatula to stir until the vegetables are cooked and soft, then turn off the heat.
Place the cooked vegetables into a blender along with 1/2 of the chopped rosemary, parsley, 40ml of olive oil, and blend until the sauce is very smooth.
Note: You can also put all the sauce ingredients into a high-powered blender, then add a little boiling water and blend until the sauce is very smooth!
-
Roasting Vegetables
After preparing the sauce, use a spoon to spread a thin layer of the sauce evenly over the cast iron pan.
Next, arrange the remaining sliced tomatoes, eggplants, green and yellow zucchinis alternately on top of the sauce to make it look visually appealing.
Sprinkle half of the remaining chopped rosemary and 10ml of olive oil over the vegetables, then cover the surface of the cast iron pan with a layer of parchment paper, and roast in the oven at 150 degrees Celsius for 90 minutes to complete.
Note: If you don’t have a cast iron pan, you can use a baking dish instead!
-
Final Product
The completed Ratatouille will have a very appealing color, a rich aroma from the sauce and rosemary, along with the soft and flavorful taste of the vegetables that will surely satisfy you. You can enjoy this dish on its own or pair it with white rice, bread, or meat dishes for a delicious meal.
Introduction to Ratatouille vegetable stew
Ratatouille is a rustic dish from the countryside of Provence in France, originating from the city of Nice. The traditional dish includes vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, zucchini, bell peppers, eggplants,… stewed with sauce; this is a vegetarian dish rich in fiber, very suitable for dieting.
Since the dish was named after the famous movie Ratatouille, it has gradually become famous and has been transformed into an incredibly appealing and delicious dish by many large restaurants in France.
The modern Ratatouille vegetable stew in the film is actually called confit byaldi, which includes the same types of vegetables but is not stewed in a pot; instead, the vegetables are thinly sliced, then drizzled with a sauce made from tomatoes and bell peppers along with some seasonings, and then baked, resulting in a uniquely delicious flavor.
Note:
- The ingredients for Ratatouille vegetable stew are very diverse; you can replace the above vegetables with other types you prefer, such as potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, radishes, turnips,… or even apples to make this dish!
- The dish can be eaten hot or cold, but eating it hot will be the most delicious and flavorful; if you have leftovers, you can put them in the refrigerator to enjoy later! If you want to serve the dish the next day, wrap the leftover vegetables in aluminum foil and reheat them in the oven at 180ËšC for 15 minutes or warm them in a microwave.
- Making the sauce takes a lot of time, so you can prepare the sauce the day before and just make the vegetables the next day.
See more
Above is the simple and quick way to make Ratatouille vegetable stew right at home. Get into the kitchen and treat everyone right away, good luck!
*Refer to images and recipes from the YouTube channel ChefSteps.
