We’re headed into the heart of winter, and the heart of winter calls for hearty moringa meals.  For 2016, I’ve decided to take on a new 30 day challenge every month instead of going the traditional route of making general resolutions for the year. My 30 day challenge for January is to be a vegetarian and I have been constantly on the lookout for new veggie dishes to try. Since Ratatouille is probably my favorite Pixar movie, I decided to incorporate Moringa into the film’s namesake dish.  If this culinary combination sounds like an accident, that’s because it is.  The first time I tried this I had friends coming over for dinner, and as it turned out this ratatouille dish went absolutely perfectly with a Chinese friend’s cold noodles.  Try it on a cold, snowy day, or if you live somewhere that doesn’t get that cold, it’s still delicious no matter what the temperature!

Moringa RatatouilleMoringa RatatouilleMoringa Ratatouille

Vegetarian Ratatouille

Ingredients:

1 Eggplant

1 Summer Squash

1 Zucchini

1 Large Onion

3 or 4 Tomatoes

2 or 3 Peppers (any color)

3 or 4 Cloves of Garlic

2 to 3 tablespoons Kuli Kuli Pure Moringa Powder

Olive Oil

Salt

Spices of your likingMoringa Ratatouille

Instructions:

  1. Slice the eggplant, summer squash, and zucchini at an angle to get 1/4” thick oval shaped slices; slice the tomatoes at a similar thickness.
  1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Lay the sliced veggies out on a baking sheet and coat in olive oil and salt to your liking. Bake for roughly 20 minutes or until they are sufficiently roasted.
  1. While the veggies are roasting, heat a large wok at medium heat. Add olive oil, garlic, chopped peppers, and the onion. Sauté for up to 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to low until the roasted veggies are ready.
  1. Add the eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, and tomatoes to the wok; add the Moringa powder, spices, and additional olive oil/salt to taste. The tomatoes will begin to liquefy to give you a nice soupy mixture of veggie goodness.
  1. Serve over Chinese cold noodles and enjoy!

Chinese Cold Noodles

Ingredients:

1 pound (450 grams) dried thin wheat noodles (or equivalent spaghetti)

4 to 5 scallions, cut in sections

1 inch piece of ginger, smashed

¼ cup Chinese light soy sauce

¼ cup chili oil with flakes

2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste

1 teaspoon Sichuan pepper oil

1 teaspoon Sesame Oil·

1 tablespoon minced garlicNoodles

Instructions:

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the noodles. Cook until al dente, and then drain in a colander. Rinse noodles with cool water and drain well. Mix in enough canola oil to lightly coat the noodles then spread them out on a sheet pan or other clean flat surface to dry.
  2. Add scallions and ginger, mix all the remaining ingredients for the sauce.
  3. First mix the noodles and bean sprouts. Then add sauce to your liking. All the noodles should be well-coated with the sauce. Top with any garnishes, such as chopped scallions, chopped chilies, cucumber strips, radish strips, etc.
  4. Serve at room temperature with vegetarian ratatouille.

You can find many more yummy moringa recipes on our blog!

Moringa Ratatouille