Asian-Style Ratatouille with Ground Beef Meat Recipe
Ratatouille is a classic iconic French dish made with a variety of colorful vegetables, herbs, and olive oil. It's a delightful and healthy dish that's perfect as a side or even as a main course. Normally, it’s a fully vegetarian recipe, but today I am going to be using minced meat to give it an extra protein boost and some Asian ingredients to give an extra umami flavor dimension.
About This Recipe
Normally a ratatouille requires that all the veg are cooked separately to get a perfect cook out of each vegetable. But whose got time for that. Instead I’ll be roasting all the veg at the same time in an oven for convenience and I assure you that the results will be equally tasty and wonderful.
Disclaimer: My version doesn’t use traditional methods for making a French ratatouille. Honestly, I don’t think I can even call it a French ratatouille at all, because I add two extra ingredients which I believe bring out the flavors of this whole dish. Gochujang and crispy chilli oil.
Gochujang
Gochujang is a Korean fermented red chili paste that is a staple in Korean cuisine made from fermented soya beans and chilli peppers. It’s pretty much a staple in Korean cooking and I find that it adds a beautiful flavor profile to the roasted vegetables.
Crispy Chilli Oil
This is a chill oil with crispy garlic, shallots and a bit of ginger inside it. I often use this as a condiment for things like dim sum or any of my Asian recipes in this blog. You can get the recipe here
The Vegetables
The fresh vegetables should be chopped up into equal cube sizes.
Equipment Needed:
A wok/large skillet/large nonstick skillet
Asian Ratatouille with Meat Recipe
Recipe Ingredients
The Roasted Vegetables
1 can Tomatoes (454 grams) cut into cubes
1 aubergine (150 grams) diced into cubes
10 Cherry Tomatoes whole (300 grams)
1 courgette/zuchinni (150 grams) cut into cubes
2 Onions (300 grams) sliced with half a centimeter in width
1 Red and yellow bell pepper chopped (300 grams) diced into cubes
10 whole garlic cloves smashed (50 grams)
3 sprigs of rosemary soaked in olive oil
a bunch of thyme (10 grams) soaked in olive oil
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons of olive oil (40 grams)
2 teaspoons of rock salt
2 teaspoons of black pepper
The Meat
1 tablespoon of oil
Minced meat 350g
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 cup red wine
1 can of chopped tomatoes or whole tomatoes
1 teaspoon of white sugar
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon of gochujang
1 tablespoon of crispy chilli oil
Cooking Instructions
Step 1. Prepping the roasted vegetables
Make sure that you vegetables are roughly chopped into equal diced cubes.
You can leave garlic cloves whole but I do like to smash them with a knife.
Step 2. Seasoning the vegetables
Place all the vegetables on a baking tray and drizzle with 4 tbsp olive oil. Then add the fresh herbs rosemary and thyme and drizzle the balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and use your hands to mix the vegetable mixture ensuring to cover the oil, the balsamic and seasoning evenly.
Step 3. Roasting the vegetables
Preheat your oven temperature to 200-degrees and place the veg in it for a 30-minute cook time
Step 4. Prepping the meat
Heat a large pan on medium heat, saute the minced meat in vegetable oil until completely brown around 5 minutes. Then add the contents of the tomato can with the gochujang and sugar and cook for 10 mins then add the wine and cook off the alcohol for about 5 minutes and turn off the heat and stir in the crispy chilli oil.
Step 5. Add the veg to the meat mixture
After the veg have roasted for 30 minutes in the oven, add them to the meat mixture and mix well.
Step 6. It's ready to serve!
To me this is a fusion recipe and personally it's the best ratatouille recipe that mixes both east and west in one dish. This is of course my personal opinion ;-)
What to serve it with
Although this works perfectly as a main dish you can also serve it with the following carbs
Crusty Bread: Ratatouille is fantastic when served with a slice of crusty French bread or baguette. You can use the bread to soak up the flavorful juices from the dish.
Rice: Serve ratatouille over cooked white or brown rice for a heartier meal. The rice complements the vegetables and absorbs the delicious sauce.
Pasta: Ratatouille can be served with pasta, such as spaghetti or penne. Toss the cooked pasta with the ratatouille and a drizzle of olive oil for a satisfying dish.
Cheese: or simple sprinkle over some parmesan cheese
