Whilst I serve the meals, my little one always talks about growing up one day to become a famous gardener and conserving the most exotic vegetable garden in the world.
We both love gardening, and nothing seems more pristine than spending a vigorous day digging in the garden. However, there's nothing such as a perfect day in this big, busy world, unless you choose a hermetic life, scurrying away from the hustle and bustle of the metropolitan life, and shift to a more idyllic corner of the countryside. I usually fulfill this hermetic dream, being a true gardener by heart and soul, as I spend the sunny holiday spell at my ancestral farmhouse near Chateau de Cenevieres, a cloistered French castle, digging, burrowing and breathing magic into the tiny serpentine tunnels of my farmland, burrowing deeply into the heart of the earthly wonder, enjoying the sweet relishing scents of the delicious herbs, entwining climbers, spicy myrrh roots, ambergris, pretty petals of dreams and marvel with my little girl. We often pluck what we love the most, and store them as crumpled leaves in our diaries, to restore the talismanic feeling of belonging to the countryside.
Though I dreamily cultivated my garden today, I wondered what I would make for dinner, as I heard a beautiful song playing nostalgically on the radio, A Perfect Day by Miriam Stockley, the soul-stirring voice who sung the OST of the children’s dreamy classical show, The World of Peter Rabbit. I wondered, while we sit under the winterberry trees and spend the day watering the chrysanthemums, daffodils, pansies and the roses, lost in a gardener’s parable.
We often grow vegetables, as my daughter really loves to eat vegetarian food and for her, the meaning of a delightful dinner is nothing other than a well-cooked pot of Ratatouille! Ratatouille, the actual meaning of dinner that can enliven your taste buds quixotically! She loved the very idea of a scrumptious vegetarian meal, right from the day she watched the Ratatouille movie, where an incredible little rat becomes one of the best chefs in Paris, parroting the MasterChef Gusteau’s slogan, “Anyone can cook!.”
Yes, this is indeed so true, if one has a penchant for conjuring the finest dishes, all that you need to do is to find a good cooking blog of great homemade dinner ideas or an illustrious cookbook by a renowned chef and just start experimenting with the ingredients from your pantry and simply COOK!
I love preparing the famous French Provence Country Dish, the Ratatouille and it comes in sundry versions, absolutely delighting a vegetable lover with its tangy, bittersweet taste. Whenever I wonder to make an impromptu dinner using ingredients from my pantry, I mostly land up making this amazing vegan dish for my family and truly, the meaning of a heavenly dinner lies in an appetizingly cooked pot of a ratatouille country dish.
Let’s have a look at how we make this amazing vegan comfort food, which tastes unimaginably delectable, as it is served hot and bubbling, especially during the winter. As rightly said, food is food, however, every food cannot be equaled with the deliciousness of a lip-smacking Ratatouille dish!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Kisan oil,
- A little more oil for sprinkling and drizzling the three medium sized tomatoes that are seeded,
- ½ inch dice of garlic cloves
- 25 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
- One pinch of kosher salt
- 12 ounces of eggplant
- 2 large red onions
- 2 small zucchini
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup chopped basil (for garnishing)
- 6 large eggs
- 1 red pepper bell
- 5 slices of sourdough toasted bread
METHOD:
Step One:
Take a large skillet and add two tablespoons of Kisan sunflower oil. Now, add the medium sized seeded tomatoes, one garlic clove and 1/4 teaspoon of the crushed red pepper and season them with a pinch of salt. Start cooking the tomatoes over adequate heat, stirring sometimes, from time to time, until they just soften and become a little pulpy, for almost five minutes. Scrape the pulpy, juicy tomatoes into a medium sized saucepan and remove the garlic clove from it. Use a wiping towel for the skillet. Repeat the same procedure using the eggplant, zucchini, onions and red bell pepper, cooking each vegetable separately using two tablespoons of Kisan oil with one garlic clove, 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper and a generous pinch of salt until all the vegetables are just tender and slightly golden brown, spending almost seven minutes per vegetable. Once they are golden, add the cooked vegetables to the softened tomatoes in the saucepan.
Step Two:
Take the dry spices and add the bay leaf, 1/2 cup of the basil and 1/3 cup of water to the saucepan along with the vegetables. Cook the food, by placing it covered over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and juicy, about twenty minutes. Remove the bay leaf away from the saucepan and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of basil leaves for a pleasant aroma. Sprinkle the seasoning on the ratatouille with salt and pepper and let it cool with time.
Step Three:
In the meantime, use a large nonstick skillet and heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium flame. Crack 3 of the eggs into the skillet and fry until the whites are firmly cooked and the yolks become runny, after 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the eggs to a big plate, season with salt and pepper and keep them warm. Repeat the procedure with the remaining three eggs.
Step Four:
To serve, take a nice wooden spatula and spread the freshly cooked ratatouille onto the toasts and place the eggs on them. Drizzle with Kisan oil, as it is one of the best edible vegetable oils and finally sprinkle some chopped basil and serve it to your family and friends!
Share this latest recipe with your closely knit circle and do let me know if it is as admired as we do!
