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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Ratatouille: Versatile and Healthy

Ratatouille (picture taken from here)

Little Boy hates his veggies. Ratatouille is the only vegetable dish that he half enjoys. I make ratatouille in HUMONGOUS quantities and freeze them in boxes. It's a very versatile dish. Overcooked and very mushy ratatouille can be served as a soup course with garlic croutons. Slightly less overcooked and rather mushy ratatouille with bits of ham or crispy bacon makes a good topping for spaghetti aglio oglio. Just cooked ratatouille like in the picture above is a good side dish for meats.

Frozen into boxes, I can whip up a meal in 15 minutes using ratatouille as a convenient base. It's also really easy to cook in a thermal pot.

Ingredients
3 aubergines
10 small and over ripe tomatoes
3 zucchini
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
3 large yellow onions
4 bulbs of finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons of goose fat
4 tablespoons of olive oil
4 tablespoons of oyster sauce dissolved in 250ml of water
1 large handful of Herbes de Provence

(1) Dissolve oyster sauce in water.
(2) Dice all the vegetables.
(3) Brown the onions and the garlic in goose fat and olive oil
(4) Fry the diced tomatoes till soft and mushy.
(5) Pour in 250ml of oyster sauce water solution.
(6) Add in the peppers and fry till soft.
(7) Add in the aubergines and fry till soft
(8) Add in the zucchini and fry till soft.
(9) Throw in 1 large handful of Herbes de Provence.
(10) Add salt to taste.
(11) In a thermal pot, bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.
(12) Pop the pot into its insulated sleeve and forget about it till it's time to eat.

I add oyster sauce because the vegetables we buy in Singapore lack sweetness. In countries like Israel and France, these simple garden vegetables come packed with taste. There is no need to augment with oyster sauce.

8 comments:

Malar said...

It looks yummy!

Blur Ting said...

Looks good! I agree with you about the sweetness of vegetables in Singapore. It's the same with fruits!

Wen-ai said...

Ok, i'm definitely going to try this recipe! I happen to have a bottle of duck fat sitting in the fridge and I don't quite know what to do with it. Thanks for sharing!

Petunia Lee said...

Malar - It was yummy!

Petunia Lee said...

Ting - High 5!

Petunia Lee said...

Wen-Ai - Beanie might like the mushy version.

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Very interesting - you use oyster sauce. I'm going to make this in huge quantities and freeze as well!

Petunia Lee said...

So convenient right?