One pack long beans cut into 3” long pieces
1/4 large onion, minced
6-7 garlic, minced
Thumb-sized ginger, minced
3 tbsp chilli paste
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp thick soya sauce
1 tbsp Canola oil

DIRECTIONS

Boil some water and black the cut long beans. It should take no more than 5 minutes. Drain.

Heat the oil in a wok then fry the onions and garlic on medium heat. Add the ginger and lower the heat to let it sweat. When onions are transparent, add the chilli paste and fry a while. Add the water, mix well then add the soya sauce and salt to taste.

Add the blanched beans, mix well then remove from heat. Serve with rice or as a side dish with any meal.

But it was alright actually. So I learnt how to make it. Mind you, despite having recipised Gazpacho based on what  I was taught, every time I’ve made it, it turns out different…I don’t really know why. I guess the vegetables are different every time.

Gazpacho is best eaten in hot weather…chilled.

INGREDIENTS

350 gms ripe tomatoes
85 gms red or green peppers, deseeded
240 gms cucumbers, peeled
70 gms onions
3 cloves garlic
150 ml tomato juice
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp red grape vinegar
1 tsp cumin (not the powder)
1 tsp salt or to taste

1 slice of bread (regular version, omit for a low-carb version)

DIRECTIONS

Cut the vegetables roughly into cubes and place in blender. Add all the other ingredients and blend until all the vegetables are liquidised.

If you’re not on a low-carb diet, serve with croutons on top.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 2

2 eggplants (240 gms)

If you like zucchini, you can substitute 1 eggplant for 120 gms zucchini

1 1/2 medium-sized green peppers or a mixture of different coloured peppers (200 gms)

1 large tomato (180 gms)

1/4 large onion (85 gms)

2-3 cloves garlic

2 tsp tomato puree or tomato paste

Olive oil (minimum of 1 tbsp, use up to 3 tbsp if you like)

1 tsp herbes de Provence (If not available, substitute with 3/4 tsp McCormick’s “Mixed Herbs” + 1 large dried bay leaf crushed)

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Cut the eggplant into cubes, throw them in a bowl with some salt to get rid of the bitter taste.

Heat a heavy wok or frying pan – add the olive oil. Peel and cube the onion, put it into the pot and let it cook slowly on medium heat. Mince the garlic and add it to the onions.

Wash the bell peppers, rib and de-seed. Cut into cubes and stir it in.

Wash the salt off the eggplant, rinse well and drain all the water. Throw them in the pot. If using zucchini, wash and cut into big chunks and throw them in.

Wash the tomato, cut it up into big chunks, and throw them in. Add the tomato paste, herbes de Provence or its substitute as above, and salt and pepper to taste.

Mix well and cover.

Let it cook slowly for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Its done when you see that the oil has separated.

Serve hot. Goes well with couscous and Moroccan baked fish and keeps well in the fridge for up to a week. Also nice eaten on its own or with bread.

According to Wikipedia:

French chef Michel Guérard invented a "Confit Bayaldi" as early as 1976, replacing ratatouille’s traditional rough-cut vegetables with thinly sliced rounds. Confit byaldi is an interpretation of the French dish by American chef Thomas Keller, made for the 2007 film Ratatouille.

The name is a play on the Turkish dish, "imam bayildi", which is more of a stuffed eggplant. The dish has appeared sporadically on menus in France and the United States ever since.

American celebrity chef Thomas Keller first wrote about a dish he called "byaldi" in his 1999 cookbook, The French Laundry Cookbook. Beginning in mid-2000, he served as food consultant to the Pixar film, Ratatouille, allowing its producer, Brad Lewis, to intern for two days in the kitchen of his restaurant, French Laundry. Lewis asked Keller how he would cook ratatouille if the most famous food critic in the world were to visit his restaurant. In a moment of inspiration, he fanned the vegetables in a high sculptural form with a palette knife. The dish became the focus of the climactic scene in the film, and its depiction was so appealing that Keller exclaimed that watching it made him hungry.

Preparation and serving

A pipérade is first made of peeled, finely chopped, and reduced bell peppers, yellow onions, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. The piperade is spread thin in a baking tray or casserole dish, then layered on top with evenly-sized thinly-sliced rounds of zucchini, yellow squash, Japanese eggplant, and roma tomatoes, covered in parchment paper, then baked slowly for several hours to steam the vegetables. The parchment is removed so that the vegetables may be roasted. To serve, the piperade is formed into a small mound, and the rounds arranged in a fanned-out pattern to cover the piperade base. A balsamic vinaigrette is drizzled on the plate, which may be garnished.

Despite the delicate preparation and presentation, like most ratatouilles, confit biyaldi improves with age overnight in the refrigerator.

I found the recipe in an article by the New York Times about the production of the movie Ratatouille:

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

FOR THE PIPERADE

1/2 red pepper, seeds and ribs removed
1/2 yellow pepper, seeds and ribs removed
1/2 orange pepper, seeds and ribs removed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
3 tomatoes (about 12 ounces total weight), peeled, seeded, and finely diced, juices reserved
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig flat-leaf parsley
1/2 a bay leaf
Salt to taste

THE VEGETABLES

1 zucchini (4 to 5 ounces) sliced in 1/16-inch rounds
1 Japanese eggplant, (4 to 5 ounces) sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
1 yellow squash (4 to 5 ounces) sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
4 Roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/8teaspoon thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Assorted fresh herbs (thyme flowers, chervil, thyme)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

To prepare the piperade, heat oven to 450 degrees. Place pepper halves on a foil-lined sheet, cut side down. Roast until skin loosens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Peel and chop finely.

Combine oil, garlic, and onion in medium skillet over low heat until very soft but not browned, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, their juices, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf. Simmer over low heat until very soft and very little liquid remains, about 10 minutes, do not brown; add peppers and simmer to soften them.

Season to taste with salt, and discard herbs. Reserve tablespoon of mixture and spread the remainder in the bottom of a baking tray.

To prepare the confit byaldi, heat oven to 275 degrees. Down the centre of the baking tray spread with the piperade, arrange a strip of 8 alternating slices of vegetables, overlapping so that 1/4 inch of each slice is exposed. Around the centre strip, overlap vegetables in a close spiral that lets slices mound slightly toward centre. Repeat until the tray is filled – not all vegetables may be needed, arrange whatever will fit on the tray.

Mix the garlic, oil, and thyme leaves in a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle over the vegetables. Cover with aluminium foil and crimp the edges to seal well. Bake until the vegetables are tender when tested with a paring knife, about 2 hours.

Uncover and bake for 30 minutes more. (Lightly re-cover with foil if it starts to brown.) If there is excess liquid in pan, place over medium heat on stove until reduced. (At this point it may be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Serve cold or reheat in 350-degree oven until warm.)

To prepare the vinaigrette, combine reserved piperade, oil, vinegar, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.

To serve, heat broiler and place byaldi underneath until lightly browned. Slice in quarters and very carefully lift onto plate with offset spatula. Turn spatula 90 degrees, guiding byaldi into fan shape. Drizzle vinaigrette around plate. Serve hot.

850 gm fresh tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 small yellow onion, sliced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

500ml chicken stock

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, optional

vine cherry tomatoes for garnish, optional

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Wash, core and cut the tomatoes into halves. Spread the tomatoes, garlic cloves and onions onto a baking tray. If using vine cherry tomatoes for garnish, add them as well, leaving them whole and on the vine. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, or until caramelized.

Remove roasted tomatoes, garlic and onion from the oven and transfer to a large stock pot (set aside the roasted vine tomatoes for later). Add 3/4 of the chicken stock, bay leaves, and butter. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until liquid has reduced by a third.

Wash and dry basil leaves, if using, and add to the pot. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth. Return soup to low heat, add cream and adjust consistency with remaining chicken stock, if necessary. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Garnish in bowl with 3 or 4 roasted vine cherry tomatoes and a splash of heavy cream if you like.

Serves 2

1/4 red cabbage

2 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp smoked hot pimiento powder

1 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Slice the red cabbage finely and boil in salted water till well-cooked. Drain.

Peel and mince the garlic. Heat the olive oil and fry the garlic on low heat.

Add 1/2 tsp of smoked hot pimiento powder and fry briefly being careful not to burn it.

Add the boiled red cabbage and mix well. Remove.

Serve as a side with any Spanish dish e.g. al-bondegas. May also be eaten on its own like a salad.

The name "ratatouille" comes from the French "touiller", meaning "to stir." The dish is French Provençal in origin and traditionally contains eggplant, zucchini, onions, bell peppers, garlic and tomatoes in roughly equal amounts. Its basically a vegetable stew and hearty enough to stand on its own, accompanied by a good baguette for dipping into the savoury juices, and bold enough to be an excellent foil to roasted meats. It can be prepared fairly quickly by cooking everything together at the same time, but that needs to be done in the correct sequence to not miss out the art and the flavour of the dish.

Both methods are explained below – but go here if you want my “quick and dirty” ratatouille for everyday cooking!

"Too much" doesn’t apply to ratatouille. Cook it the first time, and eat it hot as the main course; then have it again later as a cold hors-d’oeuvre. In the summer time, it’s great as a cold main-course dish. It keeps for several days in the refrigerator. Ratatouille is also good served with couscous or rice.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 8

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Per serving: 179 calories; 9.6 grams fat; 4.2 grams protein; 23.1 grams carbohydrates; 7.1 grams fibre

1/3 cup olive oil
2 medium onions
4 cloves garlic
2 large eggplants (2 pounds)
4 to 5 medium zucchini (2 pounds)
3 yellow or red bell peppers
2 -3 large tomatoes or 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
Herbes de Provence (basil, thyme, parsley)
salt and pepper to taste

The Classical Method

This is the "old fashioned" method. Ratatouille enthusiasts should try preparing it this way at least once just for the experience. It is said however, that this method fills the kitchen surfaces with pots and pans, takes a bit longer, but doesn’t really add to the flavour. But you have to try it to decide if you will ever do it this way again!

Prepare the vegetables and keep them separate:

Cut the eggplant into rondelles.
Peel the zucchini and cut into rondelles.
Rib and seed the bell peppers, cut into strips.
Peel and cube the onions.
Peel and mince the garlic.
Peel, de-seed or drain the canned tomatoes.

Using four separate cooking pots, put some olive oil in the bottom then put in the eggplant, zucchini, pepper, and onion into their own pots. Sprinkle some flour onto the eggplant and onto the zucchini. Put the four pots on to cook slowly. Each cooks for about 30 minutes, but test and cook each until correctly soft.

In another large cooking pot with a heavy base, put in some olive oil, the chopped garlic and herbes de Provence. Squeeze the tomatoes in by hand. Cook slowly until you have a thick tomato sauce.

Add the four separately cooked vegetables to the tomato sauce, mix thoroughly and heat.

Pour off the excess oil from the top and serve!

The Common Method

This method uses fewer pots and is somewhat faster yet it keeps the flavours well and is commonly used. About 65 minutes cooking.

Peel the tomatoes: cut out the stem cores and drop them whole into boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove into a colander. The skin should split for easy removal; otherwise, make an X cut in the top, then peel off the skin.

Mince the garlic. Peel and cube the onions. Rib and de-seed the bell peppers, cut into cubes.

In a large and heavy cooking pot with thick bottom, put in the olive oil, onions and chopped garlic. Add in the bell pepper. Mix well and cover to keep in the moisture.

Cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently, and add olive oil as necessary to prevent sticking.

Add the peeled tomatoes and herbs de Provence. If you don’t have good garden tomatoes with flavour, add a small can of tomato paste. Stir well and cook for another 15 minutes.

Cut the eggplant into rondelles. Lay the cut eggplant on some paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Leave them to drain of their bitter juices for 30 minutes then pat dry with paper towels.

Cut the eggplant and zucchini into rondelles. Add to the pot and cook for about 30 minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cauliflower

A knob of butter

1 tbsp double cream

Garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

Cut cauliflower into small florets.

Place about 1cm water in a microwave oven-proof dish, add salt and the cut cauliflower. Cover and cook on high in microwave oven for 5 – 6 minutes or until cauliflower are well-cooked.

Mix the cauliflower with all the other ingredients and puree using tool of your choice.

Serve hot as a low-carb alternative to mash or use to make dishes such as shepherd’s pie.