Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a stew made of vegetables that originates in France. Traditionally it used to be popular among the poor class.
The dish modernized in recent years and it got a new look and now it's mostly made in the oven.
I didn't completely follow the recipes as I didn't have all the ingredients, but it still tasted amazing. I used bechamel in the recipe as I think it adds richness to this dish, but ratatouille is also delicious without bechamel.
I usually make this dish in summer when I have a lot of vegetables to choose from.
For the better look, choose vegetables that are the same size, but that's not necessary.

Ingredients:

• 30 ml of homemade tomato sauce
• half a teaspoon of oregano
• a pinch of salt (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• fresh parsley
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 tomatoes
• 4 potatoes
• 1 big eggplant
• 1 big red pepper
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 lemon
• a teaspoon of vegetable salt (or ⅓ teaspoon of salt)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of vegan butter
• 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
• 120 ml of oat milk
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of black pepper
• a pinch of nutmeg
• fresh parsley
• chives

Preparation:

1. Slice all the vegetables into very thin slices.
   
2. Boil potato slices for 5 minutes.
   
3. Mix tomato sauce with oregano, salt and a tablespoon of olive oil and add it. Pour it to the bottom of the baking tray.
4. Slice garlic and chop fresh parsley and add it on top of tomato sauce.
   
5. Arrange vegetable slices in the tray and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with vegetable salt or salt.
   
6. For bechamel, melt vegan butter in a saucepan and add all-purpose flour. Stir over a low heat until combined and slowly pour in hot oat milk, while stirring. Add salt, black pepper and nutmeg and simmer for 3 minutes, while stirring.
7. Drizzle bechamel over ratatouille and put a lid on. If you don't have a lid for the tray, cut a piece of baking paper in the shape of a tray and cover.
8. Place in the preheated oven at 200°C for 40 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
   
9. Place a mold or a cookie cutter on a plate and put some of the vegetable slices vertically and slightly press it with a spoon. Place some vegetable slices horizontally on the top.
   
   At that point, ratatouille will leak out some liquid.
10. Carefully take the mold off. Drizzle with some tomato sauce from the bottom of the tray and garnish with fresh parsley and chives.