I love when healthy tastes good. I don't mean just good, but goooooood. You know what I'm saying?
Today, I'm sharing a tasty recipe called tourlou tourlou! It's one of my favorite things to say. You gotta know how to roll those Rs to say it properly. It's basically pronounced like "toodaloo," but a little quicker than you might say toodaloo and also, you would say it twice because reasons.
Actually, tourlou tourlou basically means "all mixed together" (in Greek, duh) and it's a medley of vegetables roasted in the oven long enough for them to soften and sweeten. And I find it tastes even better the next day. Whenever I visit home and my dad happened to make this, he offers me a bunch to take home and I never say no. Cause it's too good to say no to. <3
The amount of time the vegetables are roasted is what really makes this dish. It's made with potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and parsley. You could use various mixed vegetables if you wanted to, but potatoes, onions, and eggplant are the base of this dish, I think.
Tourlou tourlou is easy to make, but it does require a bit of hands-on time for all the prepping! You gotta peel the potatoes and onions, you can choose to peel the eggplant and zucchini if you'd like; I tend to half peel mine (pictured above). What's important though, is the slicing of the vegetables - especially the potatoes . You want to slice them all evenly because if you don't, they won't cook evenly! It's not rocket science. I slice mine in quarter-inch rounds.
Because there are a lot of vegetables to cook, I use a large roasting pan when I make this. Like, the kind you roast a turkey in. If by chance you don't have a roasting pan that large, you can always split this up into a couple smaller pans.
What I like to do as I'm prepping is layer everything into the roasting pan as I go. I start with the potatoes and stack the eggplant, zucchini, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and parsley - in that order. Then I pour in delicious olive oil. And I season generously with salt, crank a few, uh, cranks of freshly ground black pepper, throw in a teeny bit of water, and mix it all together! Then I toss it in the oven for at least an hour and a half to two hours, mixing it every 20-30 minutes or so.
You can serve tourlou tourlou as a side dish with meat, like lamb, or you can have it as a meal as is. Either way, be sure you serve this with some feta on the side and good, crusty bread.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 1 medium eggplant, sliced (1 pound)
- 1-2 zucchinis, sliced (1 pound)
- 1 large vidalia onion, sliced
- 4-6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 - 1 ½ pounds vine tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- half a bunch of parsley, finely chopped
- ⅔ cup olive oil
- salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
- ⅓ cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- In a large roasting pan (or two smaller pans), layer the potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and parsley.
- Pour in the olive oil.
- Season generously with salt and add freshly ground black pepper.
- Add in the water.
- Mix everything until well combined.
- Roast in the oven for 1 ½ - 2 hours, stirring the vegetables every 20-30 minutes.
- You'll know it's done because the potatoes will be tender and the vegetables' edges have slightly crisped.
- Devour.
Hi Marissa! I could devour a big bowl of this! I love roasted vegetables - sometimes I splash a little balsamic on them when they come out of the oven. And yes these would be great with lamb!
Hi Dorothy! I love them too - so much! Balsamic is a great addition to so many dishes; I love the stuff. 😀
I'm going to say tourlou tourlou all day today. 🙂 In Malaysia, we say "rojak" for all mixed together and it's one of my favorite Southeast Asian salad.
Yay! My goal to get everyone to say tourlou tourlou is nearly complete! I love Malaysian cuisine. I just did a google search for rojak and my mouth is watering. 😮 I think I might have to take a trip to the Asian grocery store for some delicious goods!
I can just imagine how good this taste. And while I'm stealing a bite from you, we can have a showdown on who can pronounce tourlou tourlou with our mouths full too. :p
Thanks, Ai Ping! That kind of showdown sounds fantastic. Let's do it! 😀
Marissa, this sounds so delicious! Totally something I would eat again and again. And um..... I tried like mad to get that toodaloo rolled R sound down. NOPE! LOL!
Thanks, Trish! I can never get sick of eating it myself, haha. I'll accept toodaloo and give you an A for effort on trying to get the rolled R down. We'll get it next time. =P
This sounds delicious! Definitely adding this to my "must make" list for this fall!
Thanks, Kathryn!
Tourlou tourlou! Fun to say and looks amazing! I love that it's all veggie and clean eating. And for some reason I really want it on a sandwich.
I have never eaten this on a sandwich and now I want it too. Might have to try that next time I make it. Maybe with an egg on top!
Haha that name had be laughing out loud. I love roasted vegetables and this is an interest twist to making them!
Thanks, Richa! Yeah, it's a ridiculous name. 😀
I made this recipe last night and it was so delicious! My partner and I both enjoyed it. Thank you!
Awesome, thanks for the comment Genevra! Glad you both enjoyed the dish. <3
I made this is in a glass pan and the vegetables stuck to the bottom of the pan. It still tasted amazing after I scraped them off! Is your pan stainless steel? How do you prevent the vegetables from sticking?
Thanks for the wonderful recipes on this blog!
Hi Nashwa - thank you for your kind words!
Sorry to hear you had a stuck veggie problem. I do use a stainless steel pan myself and have experienced some sticking, but nothing too bad (I do love the scraped crispy bits though). The best bet is to make sure the veggies are completely coated with the oil. I'm not sure if that was the cause of the problem on your end, but it should certainly help. Alternately, you could brush the sides and bottom of your baking dish with a little oil too! I hope this helps. <3