Pancake Talong: learning to cook filipino food

One of my goals for this year was to cook one new Filipino dish each month.  I started out okay, but like most resolutions, it fell to the wayside and I haven't cooked a new one in several months.  So I thought I would try to work towards my goal again.  I decided to make Tortang Talong, or eggplant omlet.  Didn't quite work out, but Allan said it was the right taste and I learned a lot in the process.

There seems to be a few names for this dish.  Torta Talong, Tortang Talong, Rellenong Talong, and Puki-puki.  Talong means eggplant in Tagalog.  The term torta means different things to different people around the globe.  Wikipedia helped clarify by explaining that, "in the Philippines the term for omelette is torta - not to be confused with the Mexican torta (sandwich), Italian torta (pie) or the Spanish torta (cake)."

I read that the basic form of torta talong is an eggplant dipped in egg and fried up into an omlet.  Usually served with banana sauce ( Filipino ketchup made from bananas instead of tomatoes).  Banana sauce is a common Filipino condiment that came about during World War II when there was a shortage of tomatoes.  So because of the abundance of bananas, they used bananas instead and died it red to resemble ketchup.  If you stuff your eggplant with ground pork or meat of some kind then you get a dish called Rellenong Talong.  But one blog told me that meat is more expensive in the Philippines, so to have your talong stuffed with meat is the fancier way to consume it.  Still a third way to prepare it would be the Ilokanoo way (a specific province in the Philippines where my mother in law is from) which is sauteed with onions, tomatoes and bagoong (fermented shrimp paste condiment) or patis (fish sauce condiment).

It can be a little confusing as an outsider trying to learn and figure out which way is the "authentic way" when each new link I click on from my google search gives me a new way to prepare it.  Allan said it is sorta like meatloaf, there really isn't an exact recipe to follow, but each person puts their own spin on it.  My dream Filipino cookbook would be one that gave the history of each dish and how it evolved and how it varies over the different provinces in the Philippines.

 So here goes.....

My first variation from the Filipino way of preparing this dish was that I used American eggplants instead of Chinese eggplants.  I didn't really know there was a difference as I don't consume eggplants regularly.  I had always wanted to make this dish, so when I went to the local pumpkin patch to pick a pumpkin with my sons, and I saw the fresh eggplants, I bought a few.  The Chinese eggplant is longer and has thinner skin.  I was told that the taste is similar just the texture is a little different. 

You first need to cook the eggplant in order to soften the skin to remove it.  You can boil it, broiled it, or grill it.  The most tasty way (so I've been told) is to grill it so you can get some of the grill flavor.  I opted for broil.  I had a bit of a snafu because one of my eggplants exploded!  Yikes!  Didn't read any warning about possible exploding talongs in the recipes I found on the web.

I put off the cleaning of the oven until later and I made sure my son, Trevor, was well occupied as I proceeded to the next steps.

I prepped all of the ingredients and got ready to "stuff" the eggplants.  I opted for the meat version with sauteed tomatoes and onions and garlic. I was going to serve this as the main dish for dinner, so I thought my American parents would appreciate the meat in the dish.

But I had my second snafu when I tried to flatten my eggplant with my fork.  Perhaps because it was an American eggplant instead of a Chinese eggplant, I had trouble keeping the eggplant together while I was flattening it.  So mid way through the preparation I changed my intent and decided to make pancakes instead of omelets!  In my defense, I did come across one youtube video of the preparation of this dish, and that Filipino man made pancakes so I thought I'd do the same.  I put all the ingredients in the same bowl and mixed it like batter.

Then I poured the batter on the skillet to cook.

I flipped them in order to cook both sides and then they were done.  We served it with ketchup since we didn't have any banana sauce at home.

My parents said it was good.  Allan said it tasted just like it should.  But the ones who enjoyed it the most were Jakob and Trevor!  Trevor giggled with glee as he ate each bite.  And Jakob asked for more and more.  If you know my son Jakob then you'll know he is allergic to eggs.  I put some of the dish aside before I added the egg.  So he had the eggplant mixed with the sauteed meat and veggie mixture.  As much as you look, there is no substitute for an egg when you are trying to make an omelet.  :)

Here is a link to a blog with pictures of what mine should have looked like.  In case you are wondering it took me over an hour to scrub the oven.