Spicy Berbere Ratatouille

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 35 mins
• total time: 1:35 hours

Ingredients

Ratatouille

• 4 medium aubergines, cut into 2½cm squares (1.1kg net weight)

• 4 mixed red and yellow romano peppers, pith and seeds removed, cut into 3cm pieces

• 2 kohlrabi, peeled and cut into 1½cm dice (460g net weight)

• 2 tbsp berbere spice mix – I use Bart’s

• 200ml olive oil

• Salt

• 10g piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

• 3 small garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

• 3 tbsp soy sauce

• 2½ tbsp maple syrup

• 300g sweet, ripe cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped

• 2 tsp nigella seeds

• 3 mild or medium-heat chillies, red, green or a mix

Salsa

• 1 cucumber, coarsely grated (300g net weight)

• 55g coriander leaves, finely chopped

• 25g piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

• 200g coconut cream

• 2 tbsp lime juice

Directions

Heat the oven to 230C (210C fan). In a large bowl, mix the first five ratatouille ingredients with three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt, then spread out over two large, 40cm x 30cm oven trays lined with baking paper. Roast for 40 minutes, stirring the vegetables and swapping the trays around halfway through, so everything cooks evenly, until the vegetables are a deep, golden brown. Tip into a large bowl with the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, maple syrup, cherry tomatoes and nigella seeds.

While the vegetables are roasting, put a frying pan on a high heat and, once very hot, dry-fry the chillies for 12 minutes, turning them a few times, until well charred all over. Finely chop the chillies (remove and discard the pith and seeds if you want less heat), then stir into the vegetables and set aside for half an hour, so the flavours come together. You can make the ratatouille up to three days ahead and refrigerate it; just warm it through gently before serving.

For the salsa, put the cucumber in a clean tea towel and wring out to release as much water as possible – you should be left with about 180g drained cucumber. Put this in a large bowl with all the remaining salsa ingredients and a third of a teaspoon of salt, and stir to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve the ratatouille warm or at room temperature with the coconut salsa and injera alongside.