Summer Vegetable Stew with Zucchini and Eggplant

Step-by-step recipe

1. If you like, you can add other vegetables to the recipe: garlic, root vegetables, celery stalks, pattypan squash, courgettes and so on. The vegetable stew will be even tastier. I strongly recommend using young zucchini, which don't need peeling yet, and young eggplants with shiny dark skin and immature seeds. The tomatoes for the sauce should be as ripe and juicy as possible, so you don't have to add water to the stew.
   
2. All the vegetables need to be browned or roasted first. Since eggplant soaks up oil like a sponge when fried, and I don't want to add calories to the stew, I suggest roasting the eggplant. Wash the young eggplants and use a sharp knife to peel off the skin in strips. Put the eggplants on a plate and microwave them for 7-8 minutes. They'll roast perfectly. I suggest preparing the bell pepper the same way: seed it and microwave for 5-6 minutes, then put the hot pepper in a plastic bag until it cools a little and the outer skin loosens; that skin needs to be removed.
3. Peel the onion and carrot and chop them coarsely. Remove the seeds and white inner ribs from the chili pepper and cut it into small pieces, or better, thin strips. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan or deep skillet. Fry the onion, carrot and chili in the oil for 4-5 minutes.
   
4. Cut the young zucchini, unpeeled, into large cubes. Peel a few new potatoes and cut them into cubes too, about half the size of the zucchini. Add the zucchini and potatoes to the fried vegetables. Stirring from time to time, fry the vegetables over medium heat, uncovered. Fry the stew ingredients until the vegetables are half cooked.
   
5. Cut the cooled, peeled bell pepper into strips and add it to the fried vegetables. Halve the eggplant and cut it into pieces. Add the roasted eggplant to the stew. Add 0.5 tsp of sugar, 0.5 tsp of ground coriander, and salt and black pepper to taste. Stir the vegetables, lower the heat and cover the sauté pan. Simmer the vegetables in their own juices for 5-10 minutes.
   
6. While the vegetables simmer, make a purée from fresh ripe tomatoes. Put the tomatoes in a deep bowl and cover with boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Cool the tomatoes under cold running water. The skin will slip off easily. Peel and seed the tomatoes and cut out the white core. Put the tomato flesh in a blender and purée it. If there are hard bits in the purée, such as leftover seeds or white parts, it's best to rub it through a sieve as well.
   
7. Add the prepared tomato purée to the fried vegetables. Bring the stew to a boil and simmer, covered, over low heat for at least 20 minutes. Vegetable stew usually cooks for up to 1 hour, but if the vegetables are young and well browned, 30 minutes is quite enough. If there seems to be too little liquid, you can add a little water, but no more than half a cup.
8. Simmer the dish until fully cooked. It's best not to stir the stew while it simmers, so the vegetables stay whole. Then you have options. You can make the vegetable stew fairly thin and soup-like, the way goulash is made, or closer to a main course, like chili con carne. Everything should be just the way you like it. You can reduce any excess liquid by taking the lid off the sauté pan.
   
9. Ladle the finished vegetable stew into deep bowls. If you like it spicy, you can sprinkle the stew with a pinch of coarsely ground chili or slice a little fresh chili pepper over it. Be sure to sprinkle the stew with finely chopped mixed herbs.
   
10. Hot vegetable stew is a very tasty main course, and it can even be a thick soup if you leave a good part of the vegetable liquid in it. Since the stew contains no meat, it's perfect for vegetarians. I should say that thanks to the tomato purée, the stew has quite an intense flavor, much stronger than lecso.
    
11. Vegetable stew should only be served hot. As a bonus, I suggest adding 2-3 halved cherry tomatoes.