Spicy Roasted Ratatouille

I fired up my oven today and made this warm and earthy roasted eggplant dish to celebrate the first day of autumn. The recipe is my deconstructed take on a classic ratatouille, albeit with a lot of aromatic spices thrown in. And, instead of laboriously browning each vegetable individually in a skillet, as is called for in a traditional ratatouille, I took the liberty of tossing them all together into a baking dish and roasting them in the high heat of the oven until they cooked down to a luscious, golden pile of caramelized veggie goodness.

Ingredients

Vegetables 
3 lbs [1½ kg] Eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 small Red Onions, chopped
2 Tomatoes, chopped
8 cloves Garlic, peeled

Whole Spices 
2 Bay leaves
1 stick Cinnamon
1 whole Clove
1 whole Green Cardamom
1 whole Black Cardamom

Ground Spices 
1 tsp ground Garam Masala
Pinch of ground Nutmeg
½ tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
½ tsp Chilli Powder

2 tbsp Tomato Paste
½ cup Olive Oil
Sea Salt (to taste)

1. Pre-heat oven to 450º F (230ºC). Arrange vegetables and whole spices in a deep baking dish. 
2. In a small bowl, whisk together ground spices, tomato paste and olive oil, and pour over vegetables. Sprinkle with sea salt, and toss well to mix. 
3. Roast in the oven for 30 mins, then stir the vegetables to ensure that they caramelise evenly. Continue roasting for another 15 mins. Remove from oven and serve immediately.