Nothing French about this Ratatouille

Think Ratatouille and scenes of Disney’s animated flick fill your mind. You begin to picture Remy, a rat, putting the finishing touches to this once peasant favourite for none other than Anton Ego, a hard-to-please food critic. While the images of that oh-so-perfect ratatouille fill your head, you can’t help but crave for a helping of that famed vegetable stew. While it’s hard to come by the classic French version of the ratatouille, you will be glad to know that chefs back home have used it as an inspiration to create their own versions. Here’s a look at how the dish has been interpreted here.

Tucked away neatly in a filo pastry

Dipak Adhikary, head chef, The Good Wife, chose to use his travels as an inspiration to create a dish that was aesthically pleasing and yet true to its roots. He says, “The classic way to serve ratatouille is in a stew form and I tried to experiment with a different concept of baked filo in a parcel form. I incorporated saffron, which is one of my favourite ingredients in Indian kitchen and filo pastry dessert, which I tried in Istanbul and finally made our rendition of the ratatouille in a filo parcel. The whole idea was to retain the traditional flavours in the dish and also sustain the usage of filo in a way that the aesthetics of a classic ratatouille is hidden in the parcel.”

As a Thai Spiced Ratatouille dish

Chef Sahil Singh, executive chef, Modern Asian Cuisine (Pa Pa Ya), Massive Restaurants Pvt Ltd, says, “The Sea Bass, Udon Pad See Eiu, Thai Spiced Ratatouille brings together the concept of the French ratatouille, however incorporated in a truly Asian fashion in terms of it’s treatment, ingredients, preparation and presentation. It is in no way a fusion of Asian and European cuisines, but of amalgamating one’s technique into another’s to create a truly modernist and an avant-garde experience retaining the traditional flavours and essence of Asian food.”

Alu Shaak Ratatouille with South Africian Indian flavours

“We have taken the basic essence of the ratatouille, which is the garlic flavoured tomato sauce and the vegetables, used it to express South African Indian flavours by making a tomato curry spiced with paprika and piri piri, vegetable bhajjis,” says chef Siddharth Kalyanaraman of NRI.

Draped in a crepe

Sahil Timbadia, partner at Jamjar Diner, adds, “It is fascinating to see how the taste of the vegetables cooked together taste so different from the way the same set of vegetables cooked in the Ratatouille way turn out. We chose to serve it in crepes as we felt it would appeal to our patrons in that form.” So, what you get is three crepes stuffed with ratatouille and burrata cheese, which is an Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The crepes are than laid on a bed of tomato based sauce and topped with cream, garnished with chives and Parmesan cheese.

Chef Ramesh of Le Bistro Du Parc in Delhi, feels that ratatouille to French is what bhaaji is to Indians. “It is one of the basic dishes in France and being a French eatery, it was natural for us to include it in the menu,” he shares. The bistro uses yellow squash, onion, zucchini, and aubergine, all mixed together in a specially prepared tomato sauce with only a hint of pepper for seasoning to make ratatouille. It is then stuffed in crepes made of buckwheat flour and baked. The dish is served with a peppy salad of basil, fennel, parsley, lettuce.

Stuffed in zucchini and more

Ratatouille for Delhi-based La Vie in Khan Market is a baked classic of zucchini, egg plant and tomatoes cooked in their in house arrabbiata sauce with fluffed rice as accompaniment while Di Ghent Cafe in Gurgaon stuff ratatouille in zucchini and serve with spaghetti aglio olio with tomato sauce on the side. “It is a hit with vegetarians who visit our outlet. Since it has the right balance of nutrients and cooked in minimum oil, the weight watchers too love it. We serve it on a bed of buttered rice,” says Satish Kumar, executive chef, The California Boulevard.  His views are shared by chef Hosang from The Roost, Urban Bistro in Hauz Khas. “Ratatouille is a good old classic French dish, curated with beauty of autumn season veggies, like squash, eggplant, onion and tomatoes, grilled and baked with cheese till perfection.”
So, go ahead and enjoy the many variations of this dish.

NRI’s Alu Shaak Ratatouille 
The California Boulevard’s version is served with buttered dish

Recipe  for Ratatouille

DIY

Ingredients

1/4 cup Olive Oil — plus more as needed
1 1/2 cup Small diced yellow onion
1 Teaspoon minced garlic.
2 cups Medium diced eggplant (skin on)
1/2 tsp Fresh thyme leaves.
1 cup Diced green bell peppers
1 cup Diced Red bell peppers
1 cup Diced zucchini
1 1/2 cups Peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes
1 Tomato pureed 
1 tbsp Fresh basil leaves.
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

Set a large 12-inch saute pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once hot, add the onions and garlic to the pan. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they are wilted and lightly caramelised, about five to seven minutes. Add the eggplant and thyme to the pan and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is partially cooked, about five minutes. Add the green and red peppers, zucchini, and squash and continue to cook for an additional five minutes. Add the tomatoes, basil, parsley, and salt and pepper, to taste, and cook for a final five minutes. Stir well to blend and serve either hot or at room temperature.
After adding in all the vegetables set the dish to back in a heavy lid cast iron Le Creuset pan for 30 minutes at 160C. 
Recipe courtesy, Atul Sikand, owner, Sikandalous Cuisine.

Did you know?

The dish originated in Nice, and its full name is ratatouille niçoise. It is served warm and can be eaten either as a side-dish or a main course or mopped up with rice or bread. The stew contains aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes, onions, peppers, herbs and garlic.