Living to eat

For most of us who love to eat, cooking is a hobby, nay, a necessity. Naturally, living in a foreign country is therefore an opportunity to try out different dishes and also to learn working with new ingredients.

France has a great and longstanding culinary tradition. The basis of the French cooking philosophy is to use spices and condiments sparingly in order to bring out the natural taste of meats and vegetables. For most Indians, French food seems bland. But my personal experience is that with an open mind (and I will underline that), you soon start to appreciate it.

For the past two years, I have had the opportunity to taste several different kinds of meats and veggies (rabbit, ostrich, snails, avocado, leek, endive…), with various ways of cooking (baking, boiling, frying…) and the tons of diverse sauces (pepper, red wine, tomato…)

[For the record, I never found frogs’ legs on the menu in French restaurants. And I ate the snails at a very touristy restaurant in Montmartre.]

What the French cuisine lacks though is a wide and interesting palette of vegetarian dishes. More often than not, vegetables are served solely as a side-dish and even in nice restaurants, they are practically tasteless.

There is however a (well-known) exception – ratatouille. Put together a few vegetables, some tomato sauce (not ketchup) and this delicious, healthy dish is ready in a few minutes.

Here is my easy-to-cook recipe:
(Since I cook by intuition the following proportions are approximate.)

Ingredients:
2 medium-sized onions, a few cloves of garlic, 1 brinjal/aubergine (for my Indian readers, the big kind of brinjal we use to make bharta), 1 capsicum, 1 zucchini (in India, called tori or turai), 1 big can of boiled and peeled tomatoes/2-3 boiled and peeled tomatoes, herbes de provence (a ready-made mixture of herbs – thyme, fennel, basil, etc.), olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Cut the onions roughly and crush the garlic cloves. Heat some olive oil in a pan, add onions first and then garlic. Sprinkle some salt. Let everything cook until the onions start to reduce.

In the mean time, cut capsicum and brinjal roughly. Slice up zucchini. Add to the pan. Sprinkle some more salt and the herbes as per your estimate. (Again, a note for my Indian readers: in absence of the herbs, try using some chat masala. Go easy on the salt though.)

Finally, add the can of tomatoes to the mixture. Let all of it cook for about fifteen minutes.

As a finishing touch, sprinkle some pepper. If you are feeling gluttonous, add some grated cheese (preferably gruyère).

Your ratatouille is ready to be served.

Ratatouille can either be served as the main dish – accompanied by bread or rice – or as a side-dish.

Ratatouille forever!

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