Ratatouille from eggplant: recipe, cooking tips

Ratatouille is a French dish. Although it is widely used in countries such as Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc. The main ingredient is eggplant. It is combined in every country with different products. It can be tomatoes, zucchini, pepper, cheese, etc.

In this article, we will examine how the ratatouille from eggplants is combined and prepared with other products. This salad can be served not only on weekdays, but also on holidays. It can be used both cold and hot.

Ratatouille from aubergines and zucchini

For its preparation it is desirable to buy exclusively fresh vegetables. Then the salad will not only taste good, but also beautiful. In the recipe, the ingredients are offered in three portions.

Take two large eggplants, take their tails from them and wash them well under running water. Sometimes the vegetables are peeled. Slice them with thin rings, put them in a bowl and salt. Now for 20 minutes, leave the eggplants, let the bitterness flow away.

Take 2 medium zucchini or zucchini. Treat them as eggplant. Slice thin slices. Then cook 4 tomatoes. Cut them, too. If tomatoes are large, then you can cut into half rings.

While the vegetables are set aside and cook the tomato sauce. It will be needed in the future.

Cooking sauce

Take one large onion and one Bulgarian pepper. Brush and cut into small cubes. From tomatoes, cook 300 g of tomato juice.

On a hot frying pan, place prepared onions, fry for no more than 1 minute (until soft). Then add the Bulgarian pepper. Fry for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Add sugar and ground pepper. As a rule, they are put to taste, not by prescription. It should be a sweet and sour sauce. And continue to fry for 10 minutes. To add flavor and emphasize piquancy, add a little basil and parsley. But the greens - at will.

We connect products and prepare ratatouille

Vegetables, which you cut into circles, - zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes - put in a pan in turn. It is necessary to pack in a circle. First - eggplant, then - zucchini and tomato. When you have filled all the capacity, fill the vegetables with tomato sauce.

Rub garlic on a small grater, cut the greens, combine with olive oil (20 ml). Mix this mixture well and pour into a container to the vegetables. Now ratatuy put on a slow fire. The dish is ready when eggplants and zucchini become soft.

Preparation ratatuya in the oven

This recipe is practically the same as the previous one. The only difference is that according to the first recipe the dish was cooked on the stove, and now we are talking about how to make ratatouille from eggplant in the oven.

If you have already cut all the ingredients and cooked tomato sauce, then the dish can be baked. Place vegetables in a deep pan without a handle or baking tray. Pour them with sauce, top with garlic, chopped greens and pour olive oil.

Now the baking tray needs to be covered with parchment paper and can be put in the oven 180 degrees. Bake for 1 hour. When the time is up, turn off the oven and let the vegetables stand for 10 minutes. Ratatouille from aubergines and zucchini is ready for use.

Add cheese

Agree, not everyone likes zucchini. Therefore ratatouille can be boldly prepared without them. First you need to cook the sauce. To do this, cut into small cubes one large onion and fry it in a frying pan until soft and transparent.

Bulgarian pepper (1 piece) and 4 tomatoes chop with a meat grinder or blender. Add the juice to the onion. Fry for 3 minutes. To taste, season with salt, pepper, add spicy herbs and stir the sauce for another 5 minutes.

Take 2 eggplants, cut them with rings. Salt, let along with the juice will go bitter. In the meantime, cut the tomatoes in slices. Cheese cut into rectangles or squares according to the size of the vegetables. You can just rub it and top it off.

Now you can put the dish in the baking dish. First put the eggplant ring, then the tomato, then cheese. And again in a circle, until all the ingredients run out. Fill them with tomato sauce. You can add garlic for a more bright flavor, and bitter pepper for sharpness.

While laying out the vegetables, you can turn on the oven. Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper. Now send it to the oven for 50 minutes. Ratatouille from eggplant, cheese and tomatoes is ready. Let it be infused for an hour, and you can serve it to the table.

Lazy ratatouille

This dish is prepared faster than the previous ones. Take two large eggplants, wash them, remove the tails and cut into strips. They should not be too thin to not fall apart during the preparation. Salt the strips and leave for 20 minutes to get bitter.

In the meantime, cut two bell peppers. They, too, must be strips. One large carrot grate on a grater, cut the onions (1 piece) into small cubes, and 4 tomatoes into thin slices.

Now fry the onion until it is soft. Do not bring to a golden crust. Then add the carrots. Fry and stir constantly. When the carrot has become soft, add pepper and eggplant. While the vegetables are being cooked, cook the sauce.

From tomatoes, make 200 g of tomato juice. In the same capacity, add grated garlic and greens to taste. It can be parsley and basil. Then add a little red and black ground pepper. Stir.

When the eggplants are fried, place the tomatoes in a pan in circles. Stir the vegetables, and let them leave for 5 minutes. Then pour the cooked sauce into the pan with garlic, pepper and greens. Cover and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Do not forget to stir occasionally. When the vegetables are cooked, they should be infused under the lid for about 30 minutes. Now a lazy Ratatouille from eggplants is ready. It can be served to the table both hot and cold.

French ratatouille

For cooking cut eggplants and tomatoes in thin circles, and peppers and onions - small cubes. Onion until golden brown. Then put the pepper in the same frying pan. All fry well, and then you can add tomatoes. Cover, let the vegetables stew.

In the meantime, we are preparing a gravy. In 1 tbsp. Water add 3 tbsp. L. Tomato paste. The juice turned out. Pour it into a baking dish. Then, in the same container, you need to cut very finely 3 cloves of garlic, add a few sprigs of basil and a half of finely chopped hot pepper. Juice mix, salt, pepper to taste.

Now put the vegetables in circles in a circle in the baking dish, where we already have a gravy.

Throughout the surface we pour out fried vegetables. This is onion and pepper. Then cover with a thick layer of cheese, cover the form with parchment paper and send it to the oven for 1 hour.

Agree, this recipe ratatuya with eggplant is very simple and is available to every hostess. Now you can surprise your household or guests with a new refined taste.

Advice

As you can see, a dish of eggplant (ratatouille) is prepared very simply. Although there are such recipes that take a lot of time. Experienced cooks know a few secrets to make the dish more flavorful and tasty.

No wonder they say that before preparing eggplant, you need to salt. After all, then the main bitterness goes away, and the dish turns out to be much more tender. To make the bitterness go faster, it is recommended that eggplants be lowered into boiled salted water. When the color of the water turns brown, you can get the vegetables.

Remember that the taste and quality of the dish depend on the cutting. If the circles are too thin, then the vegetables will fall apart and turn out to be unpresentable. Strongly thick circles can sometimes turn out to be damp, which will also spoil the dish. Therefore, try to cut vegetables in medium strips or circles.

The dish will be more saturated, beautiful and fragrant if the sauce is made from tomatoes and tomato paste 1: 1. This will give the dish a brightness and a special smell. Even if you do not like garlic, you can add 1 tooth. His taste in the dish is not felt, but will give an unforgettable aroma.

Cheese gives the dish a piquancy, so it is desirable to add it. It is not necessary to cut the size of vegetables. You can grate 200 g on a fine grater and sprinkle a dish. Sometimes hard cheese is replaced by fused cheese.

Conclusion

In the article, we considered several recipes for such an original and refined dish as Ratatouille. Also learned a few secrets and cooking tips. As it turned out, this dish is prepared simply.

It can be served as a separate dish, and as a side dish. Very often mistresses experiment and ratatouille wrapped in pancakes. It turns out a very tasty and original snack. So the choice is yours. Prepare, experiment, create your unique recipe ratatuya with eggplant, which will be appreciated by your family and friends.