Ratatouille classic in a slow cooker

How to make ratatouille classic in a slow cooker? Start cooking with the preparation of vegetables: wash them thoroughly, blot them with a towel.

Cut the eggplant into thin circles - about 3 mm thick. Sprinkle the chopped eggplant with salt, mix well and leave for 20 minutes. After this time, wash the eggplant pieces and wipe dry.

At this time, take care of other vegetables. Cut the pepper and onion into small pieces. Remove the skin from two tomatoes, having previously dipped them in hot water for a couple of minutes, and finely chop them.

Preheat the slow cooker, put the onion in the hot olive oil and fry it for 2 minutes. Then add the chopped pepper, fry for a couple of minutes and put the chopped tomatoes in a slow cooker. Simmer for 15 minutes in the "Frying" mode.

At this time, peel the zucchini and cut it into the same thin circles as the eggplant. Also chop the remaining tomatoes.

Add tomato paste to the contents of the slow cooker, mix well. Put 0.5 tsp of salt, sugar, a mixture of herbs, for example, Provencal herbs in a slow cooker. Put half of the sauce in a separate container.

Put the vegetables on the remaining sauce in a circle, alternating circles in this way: zucchini + eggplant + tomato. Sprinkle with olive oil on top, add 1/2 part of the delayed sauce, add a little salt (0.5 tsp). Set to the "Stewing" mode for an hour.

Put the finished ratatouille carefully on plates, season with the left sauce, sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve to the table.

Keep in mind that the cooking time and mode are indicated approximately in the recipe. All slow cookers work differently and even the same models of the same manufacturer may have their own characteristics. Before you start cooking a new dish for you in a slow cooker, carefully study the instructions for it, and then in practice try to cook dishes that are familiar to you first, and then new ones, choosing the mode and time individually for your own technique. 

Any oils are useful only until a certain temperature is reached - the point of smoking, at which the oil begins to burn and toxic substances, including carcinogens, are formed in it. How to determine the roasting temperature and choose the best oil for frying, and which one is better not to use at all, read here .

If you use ready-made spice mixes, be sure to read the composition on the package. Often, salt is already present in such mixtures, take this into account, otherwise you risk over-salting the dish.