Ratatouille

This is a recipe for ratatouille which kids and adults will love. Suitable for vegans and vegetarians, this low cholesterol, high fibre dish is the perfect healthy recipe for a cold day. Containing loads of vegetables, it’s also packed with vitamins and minerals.

Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 60 minutes Difficulty rating: Easy

Age Recommendation: Mash this ratatouille for babies 8 months and older.

Ingredients

Makes 10 servings

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

3 eggplants

½ cup salt for soaking

½ kg red capsicum

1.7kg tomatoes

2 large zucchini

2 tins red kidney beans

1 cup vegetable stock

½ tsp smoked paprika

Method

1. Peel and slice the eggplant.
2. Put the salt in a plate and pat both sides of each eggplant slice with the salt (like you would for flouring) and put in a bowl.
3. Leave it to soak for 30 mins.
4. Wash the salt off the eggplant – this process removes bitterness – discard the brown water which comes out of eggplant.
5. Cook garlic in the oil until fragrant.
6. Add the eggplant and cook it on medium for 5 mins.
7. Add vegetable stock.
8. Wash, de-seed and cut the capsicum into small chunks. Add it to the pan.
9. Wash and cut the tomatoes in half – remove the stalk centre (the brown hard bit, by two diagonal cuts)
10. Dice the tomatoes and add to the pan.
11. Drain, rinse and add the kidney beans to the pan.
12. Cook for 40 mins without the lid, on medium, bubbling until the tomatoes have made a rich sauce and eggplant is well cooked, stirring every so often so it does not stick.
13. Peel and cut the zucchini into largish chunks, add to the pan and cook for a further 10 mins or until tender – do not overcook the zucchini – they will disintegrate.

Tips

• Perfect served on its own as a hearty breakfast or a light meal or as a main meal with cracked wheat (bulgar), couscous, quinoa or rice.
• If you are serving this recipe for a person who is gluten intolerant, use homemade stock or check the product label for a gluten free brand.

Nutritional content

Nutritional analysis per serve (450 grams):