The Year for More Filipino Cooking...

Here we are again, January, it's another new year. So I guess I'm ready to do a handful of posts before I get distracted with something shiny in the sand and fail once more at being a good blogger. Maybe this year I'll be better :)

We just made a long awaited move to Sunny San Diego which allowed us to spend the holidays with family. Being with family always makes me want more and more Filipino food. From the standard party fare like pancit and lumpia to spam and rice for breakfast and dinuguan and pinakbet and longanisa and my this list could go on forever.  There are so many foods that I love so much but rarely get to eat so, this year, I plan to cook many more Filipino foods. More specifically, I plan to work on some amazing dishes that I haven't yet learned to cook. Well, I just recently learned how to make Tortang Talong, and since a great friend, who I know enjoys food and culture as much as I do, asked me for this recipe, I decided it should go here.

One of my favorite vegetables is eggplant. I love it so much that usually if eggplant exists on a restaurant menu I will order it, prompting people to ask me "oh, are you a vegetarian?" No, no, no. I do respect vegetarian cuisine greatly, but I was born a meat eater! Eggplant just sometimes seems to be one of those vegetables that gets reserved for vegetarians, but WHY? It's so great. So I will share here my recipe for Tortang Talong, or Filipino Eggplant Omelet. It's an excellent eggplant recipe for you meat eaters. For you vegetarians, I promise this dish will still taste amazing if you cut out the meat.

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground meat (pork, beef, turkey)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 medium onion, minced

3 medium sized carrots, peeled and diced

2 Chinese eggplants

3 large eggs, beaten

2 tbsp. soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp. Vegetable or coconut oil

Instructions

1. Broil the eggplants on a low setting for about 4 minutes, flip and broil 4 more minutes.
2. Peel off the charred skin, but keep the crown and stem. Flatten the flesh and set aside.
3. In a pan, brown the ground meat with the garlic and onion. Drain if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl.
4. Once the mixture is cooled, add the eggs and mix well.
5. Add ½ tbsp. of the coconut oil to the pan and heat the pan. Add the flattened eggplant to the pan and spread half of the omelet mixture on top of it.  Cook for about 3 minutes, then carefully, using the stem and a spatula, flip the omelet and cook the other side for about 2-3 more minutes.
6. Drain on a paper towel if necessary.
7. Enjoy!

Note: For you spicy food lovers, in the picture above, I threw in some green chiles. You can also add fresh diced jalapenos or some good ole Tapatio.