Ragu is a worthy and delicious dish that can be put on the table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And if you cook vegetable stew with eggplant in a slow cooker, then the hostess will have one sheer happiness: the duration and complexity of the process are reduced by several times. Wonderful taste, seductive aroma, dignified look - all that is needed for the family to gather in the kitchen, looking forward to a wonderful meal.
Vegetable stew with eggplant, cooked in a slow cooker, is in special demand. However, the blue ones are insidious fruits and require a special, professional approach. We’ll start with him.
Where to begin...
In eggplant, if someone is not in the know, it contains a substance called corned beef. Besides the fact that it is not good for the body, it is also very bitter. So, before you start cooking vegetable stew with eggplant in a slow cooker, you need to get rid of an unpleasant aftertaste. And for this, washed and chopped vegetables are either sprinkled with salt for a third of an hour, or immersed for the same time in its solution (spoon per liter of water). After soaking, the eggplant slices must be thoroughly washed, otherwise the dish may be salted.
... and how to continue
Very often, the interest of eaters is caused by vegetable stew with zucchini and eggplant (it is cooked in a slow cooker, on a traditional stove or on a fire - it is not so important). With zucchini fuss much less: young copies can not even be cleaned. But if the vegetable had time to "swear", it is necessary to remove the skin from it and to rid the seeds. However, the first manipulation is easily carried out with a knife or a peeler, and the second with a spoon.
Little secrets
No matter how you cook the stew, remember that vegetables are laid in it in a strict order. First, those that are characterized by increased hardness are laid, and lastly, gentle ones, which require very little time to achieve readiness.
One more remark. For better preservation in a dish, the forms of individual elements are recommended to be fried - individually and in small portions. Whether to follow this advice is up to you.
The basic recipe for vegetable stew for a multicooker
We process four eggplants in the manner described above (they must be cut into cubes). The onions are peeled and cut, as if on frying, the heels of garlic cloves are crushed as finely as possible. A piece of six tomatoes is finely chopped (you can peel them if you wish). A little oil is poured into the bowl of the miracle machine, the frying mode (or baking mode, depending on which model you have) is turned on. First, the onions are fried, then tomatoes are added to it. Remember that stirring has not been canceled.
During this time, two zucchini are washed and cut into cubes, and a pair of bell peppers, devoid of seeds and tails, are chopped with straws. All these vegetables plus blue are thrown to the onion with tomatoes - in a slow cooker. Vegetable stew with eggplant, then need to be salted, sprinkled with sugar a little, then everything is pepper and flavored with Provencal or Italian herbs. Half a glass of water is poured, the lid closes and the quenching mode is turned on for forty minutes. Everything!
Vegetable stew with eggplant and potatoes
Very often, many people in vegetable side dishes unconditionally lack potatoes. This also applies to stews cooked in a slow cooker. It doesn’t matter, adding your favorite tubers is not a problem. Just cooking the vegetable stew will step by step look a little different.
Stage No. 1. Vegetables are washed and cut: the skin is removed from two tomatoes, and they are passed through a blender or rubbed with a grater; the eggplant is cut into cubes, plus measures are taken to remove bitterness; onions and carrots are peeled and chopped finely; three potatoes and zucchini are cut in medium slices.
Stage number 2. The slow cooker is turned on for baking, in the bowl the oil is heated, in which the onion is allowed. After 5-7 minutes, a carrot leaves for him.
Stage number 3. Potatoes are added, and this stage, with stirring, lasts about a quarter of an hour.
Stage No. 4. Zucchini and eggplant slices are placed on top of the vegetables, the dish is seasoned with everything that you consider necessary, and poured with tomato puree.
Stage No. 5. The mode from baking is switched to the quenching; vegetable stew with eggplant and potatoes will be ready in half an hour. If your unit devotes more time to this mode, do not forget to turn it off.
How to diversify
Ragout is a universal and very democratic dish. It takes "to the company" almost any addition. Most often, housewives introduce meat - pork, beef, turkey or chicken. It is understandable: this is how stew does not become a side dish, but a full dinner or a second course for lunch. If you go this way, put the meat in the bowl first, because it takes longer to prepare vegetables. When there is no time for fussing with meat, open a can of stew. It is actually ready, and fat from meat can be used instead of vegetable oil for cooking frying.
Mushrooms are very good in stews. And you can use fresh, and canned, and salted. An extended list of vegetables is welcome, starting with cabbage and beets and ending with something exotic like an avocado. You can season vegetable stew with eggplant (it is cooked in a slow cooker, or on a regular stove, or even in the oven - the essence does not change from this) not with “primitive” tomatoes, but with sour cream, mayonnaise and even soy sauce. With a well-developed culinary sense, it will turn out amazingly.
The easiest way is to add a new touch to the stew using canned peas, beans and corn: they are in harmony with almost all the products included in the basic (and not only) recipe.
Ragu is a very fertile topic. The dish is prepared quickly, without stress, and it will not be boring soon, because each time it turns out with a new taste.