Food Corner: Popular Filipino Food 05

Veggie Time! Tortang Talong ( Aubergine/Eggplant Omellete)

I am not a vegetarian but I love vegetables. In fact, I can eat almost all vegetables except pumpkins and celery. How about you?

By the way, I will teach you a common Filipino veggie delight. When I started working at this company, I expected to learn how to eat more Japanese food. To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan pre-aimtalk days. I prepared myself for it but when I had a chance to eat with our previous Japanese staff for the first time, I was surprised to see them eating Filipino food instead, and one of them said he has gotten so into one dish; the eggplant omelette. He used to eat it several times a week!

Eggplants are available all throughout the year and quite cheap, too. It is a very flexible vegetable so it is not surprising that it is present in many Filipino dishes. But today’s dish is one of the few dishes that eggplant was the main ingredient. It was a pretty simple dish. The ingredients are quite simple and easy to find. There are several variations of course, but I will teach you how to cook the most basic and most common variation. Some people like adding ground meat and other ingredients, too.

Actually, the eggplant omelette can be served as a main dish or a side dish to a bigger meal. It is commonly served for breakfast or lunch. It is nice when eaten with some fresh onion and tomato salad and a bowl of steamed rice.

So if you want to take a break from meat and fish, try this vegetarian delicacy. Here we go!

Aubergine/Eggplant Omelette

Ingredients

• 2 large Asian eggplants
• 2 extra-large eggs
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 large tomato, sliced
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce

Instructions

1. Grill the eggplants or broil on a baking sheet, flipping them until all sides are blackened.
2. Set the softened eggplants for a while until they cool down a bit.
3. Peel the eggplants and discard the skin.
4. Flatten the eggplants using a fork.
5. Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
6. In a large skillet, heat the oil in medium heat.
7. Dip each flattened eggplants in the beaten egg. Season more with salt and pepper.
8. Place the eggplants on the skillet,making sure there’s room for each. If skillet is not large enough, cook the eggplants separately.
9. When the eggplants are crispy and brown, flip it over and cook until the other side is also brown and crispy.
10. Place in a towel-lined plate to drain the extra oil.
11. Serve with the onion and tomato salad on the side.
12. To make the salad, just slice tomatoes and onions then season with fish sauce or soy sauce. Season according to taste.
13. Best served with steamed rice.