This is a Filipino recipe that I actually have not made for quite some time. It's quick to prepare and very tasty too. Some recipes include a meat mince (usually pork) - just toss it in with the onion mixture and if that does not make it tastier, then I don't know what would!
I held off on the mince in this particular dish, as we are just easing off from a week of spring cleaning our insides (some people call it detox I think) - the past week we skipped meat, eggs, fish, seafood, dairy, sugar, flours, salt, oils, coffee and alcohol - and yep we made it despite a stressful workweek, being in a pub for a pub quiz surrounded by the smell of chips and pizza, and the traditional group lunch take away every Friday.
Anyway, on to the recipe -this one is especially documented for a colleague who loves eggplant. Thought I'd add a simple yet flavorful recipe to his eggplant repertoire!
To make this for 2 persons you will need :
2 eggplants (the long skinny ones, not the giant aubergines), so yes count 1 eggplant per person.
3-4 eggs
1 tomato
1 medium sized brown onion
2-3 cloves garlic
Cooking oil (i typically use olive oil)
Salt and pepper to taste
Tomato sauce/ketchup and tabasco, or tomato chutney, to serve
Start by grilling the eggplants. You can do this over an open gas burner or under the grill in an oven. (growing up I would have only been familiar with the gas burner approach so this is what is shown here). the intention is to scorch the skin until some parts of the skin erupt into tiny, fragrant geysers that smell of grilled eggplant. Make sure the flesh closer to the eggplant tops are also well cooked. This could take a good couple of minutes. Some people boil the eggplants but grilling them lends a smoky taste which I think is what makes this rather simple dish quite special.
When it is done it should look somethng like this :
Immerse the eggplants in a bowl with cold water to facilitate the process of removing the skins.
If the eggplants are cooked well the skins should remove easily, without any off the eggplant flesh sticking into the skin. Just leave the skins in the water, no harm done! (dipping your fingers into the water as you peel off the hot skin eases any possible burning of your fingertips!)
Dry the eggplants with a paper towel, and you're ready for phase 2.
Mince the onions, tomato and garlic. You can do this by hand (left side of the photo) or with a mini food processor if you have one bought from a tupperware party (right side of the photo).
Whisk the eggs in a wide bowl (not deep but not too shallow). Season as you go along.
Place the eggplants into the eggs and lightly flatten the flesh with a fork. This also incorporates some of the egg into the eggplant flesh.
The long shape would be transformed into a wider oblong! At this stage, a possible approach is to add the onion mixture on top of the eggplants. However, I prefer to soften the onions before doing so.
So.... Soften the tomato-onion-garlic mixture in a frying pan over medium heat, with some olive oil. You can use an ordinary kitchen implement if you don't have a funky guitar shaped flipper like the one shown below! :p yes, and again, season as you go...
When the onions are slightly translucent (or cook as you like), pile it on top of the eggplants. Don't get rid of the frying pan as it will be used again! Press the onions lightly into the flesh with the fork. Don't worry if the onion mixture spills over on to the egg mixture - it's all good.
Return the pan on to the medium heat and add a dash of oil. Slowly slide the entire mixture into the pan, retaining its shape. Cook until the bottom looks to be done (maybe around 7-10min?)
You can choose to flip the whole thing to cook the other side, or finish under the grill (which is what I did in this instance). Almost finished! You can choose to eat it all now when no one is looking, or share...
Serve on top of rice, or beside rice. Either way, it can only be served with rice from how I know it (well we eat everything with rice anyway!). And ketchup. And some tabasco. And maybe a beer to wash it all down. Can also go well with a glass of shiraz or shiraz grenache. May also be a lot more interesting with some freshly picked parsley sprinkled on top.
If you do end up trying this I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed using my new red guitar shaped flipper!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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