Tortang Talong ( Eggplant Omelette)

Serve with rice

Eggplants tops among my favorite veggies. This recipe is quite easy. The messy part is when you grill and peel the skin off the eggplant.

Recipe:
3 eggplants (long variety)
1 large egg
dash of salt & pepper
oil for frying

Procedure

Pierce the eggplant with a fork (3 on each sides). Cook the eggplants, broil on a grill or open flame or by boiling until eggplant is soft. Turn eggplants on every side to char the skin until wilted. Cool the eggplants before you peel off the skin, retain the stem for easy handling during frying.

Flatten the eggplant by fork, set aside. Beat egg and season with salt & pepper. Heat oil in a medium pan. Dip each eggplant one at a time in the egg mixture and slowly slide it into the pan. Fry until golden brown on both sides.

Eggplant Salad (Ensaladang Talong)

This week, I'll be posting some Filipino recipes that are easy to make. I started off with Sinigang na baboy. My second posting is Eggplant Salad. Talong or eggplant is one of fave veggies. You can cook a variety of eggplant recipes like Tortang Talong, Rellenong Talong, Ginataang Talong, and many more. Eggplant can be prepared by grilling but I prefer boiling 'cause it's time consuming.
Ingredients:

2 pcs. med. size eggplant (long purple ones)

2 med. size tomatoes, sliced in wedges

1 pc. green onion

For the dressing:

3 tbsp. fish sauce or bagoong

2 tbsp. white vinegar

dash of black pepper or chillis

Procedure:
Boil eggpant (cut-off the stalks) in water until cooked. Remove from pan and let it rest and cool. Cut or chop into bite-size pieces with the skin on. If you don't like to eat the skin, cut in half vertically and scrape the meat. Set aside. Slice tomatoes into thin wedges. Slice green onions.

Mix in a deep bowl or in a shallow platter all of the above ingredients. Season with fish sauce, white vinegar and dash of pepper. Mix and toss lightly. If you want a spicy taste you can add chilli powder cut red chillis. Let stand for 15 minutes minutes in the ref. before serving.

Moussaka (Eggplant Lasagna)

This is a dish of layered eggplants and meat topped with white sauce and baked. Moussaka means "casserole". Origin is Greek.

For Filling

3 large eggplants
1 cup oil
3 large onions, chopped
2 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 cup bread crumbs
2 beaten eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

For cream sauce:
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
3 beaten eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
dash white pepper
dash nutmeg

Wash eggplants. Slice eggplants (with skins) into 1/2-inch rounds or cut into 1/4 inch lengthwise. Sprinkle with a little salt and let stand 20 minutes to remove any bitter taste. Rinse in cold water; pat dry. In a frying pan, heat oil, fry eggplants briefly about 1 or 2 minutes or brown slices of eggplant on both sides. Set aside and drain on paper towels.

In skillet saute onions in 1/3 cup oil until tender. Add ground meat and saute around 5 - 10 minutes. Drain off any excess fat. Return to skillet. Add tomato paste, water, parsley, salt, pepper. Simmer until liquid is nearly absorbed. Take off heat, add 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 2 beaten eggs, and 1/4 cup cheese.

For cream/custard sauce: Bring milk almost to a boil. In another saucepan, melt butter. Blend in flour with wire wisk stirring constantly. Add warm milk slowly to butter-flour mixture, stirring vigorously. Continue stirring and cooking. When mixture is thickened and smooth, remove from heat. Cool slightly. Slowly add a little of the cream mixture to beaten eggs, then pour back into cream sauce and stir well. Add white pepper, nutmeg and cheese.

To Assemble:

Grease 9" x 13" baking dish or pan. Sprinkle bottom lightly with bread crumbs. Cover with a layer of eggplant slices. Spoon on all of meat mixture. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Arrange remaining eggplant over meat mixture. Pour cream sauce on top. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake custard uncovered until custard is set about 1 hour.Bake 350 degrees F. If custard oozes out, cook longer another half hour. Remove - cool slightly before cutting into squares.

Potato Dauphine

For the Duchess Potato

1/2 kg potatoes

2 1/2 cups water

1 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp butter

For the choux paste

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

(oil for deep frying)

1. Peel potatoes, wash and cut into quarters. In a saucepan, combine water, salt, bring to a boil and add potatoes, cook until they are soft. Drain off water.

2. Transfer potaoes to a bowl and mash.

3. In a pan, cook potatoes and cook over low fire, add egg yolk. Stir until well blended. Let cool.

Prpare choix paste.

1. In a saucepan, combine water, salt and butter. Heat until butter melts and water boils. Lower heat. Add flour, stir until mixture leaves sides of pan. Turn off fire.

2. Let cool. Beat in eggs one at a time, and beat until mixture is smooth and shiny.

3. Fold choux paste into Duchess potato mixture. Mix well
4. Scoop into piping bag with a large star tube tip.

5. Pipe out into spirals to a lightly greased tray.

Heat oil in pan and deep fry potato until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot

Mung Bean Sprouts

Mung Beans is used to grow bean sprouts. Sprouting is the practice of soaking, draining and rinsing seed at intervals until they germinate or sprout. Mung bean sprouts are cooked as stir fries as a vegetable, salad or used in fillings for spring roll or lumpia. This is famous in Asian cuisines like noodles & spring roll. Origin of bean sprouts was in Asia. The Chinese have been growing mung bean sprouts for 3,000 years.

If you wish to eat bean sprouts eat thoroughly cooked sprouts not raw sprouts as used in salad. Buy sprouts that have been stored at refrigerated temperatures. Select crisp-looking sprouts. Avoid sprouts that look dark or smelly. At home, store fresh sprouts in ref (not in the freezer) for about 2 days.

Mung bean sprouts is rich in Vit. B, C, E, Folate, Iron and Pottasium. Good source of dietary fiber, lower risk of heart attacks, cholesterol free and good food for those to want to lose weight.

Recipes for cooking mung bean sprouts:

Recipe 1 - Shrimp & Bean Sprouts Patties

Sweet potatoes (camote) or potatoes sliced julienne style, egg whites, corn starch, bean sprouts cooked shrimp (no heads) salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
In a bowl, mix shrimps. sweet potatoes, and egg white. Dissolve corn starch in cold water and then add to the bowl. Mix in the bean sprouts. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil in a skillet and drop in a tablespoonful of the mixture, flatten like hamburger patties and fry like fry until golden brown.

Recipe 2. Ukoy (Shrimp Fritters)

1 tsp. baking powder 1/4 c. water, 2 eggs, beaten, 1 green onion, chopped 1/2 tsp salt, dash of black pepper, 1 c. bean sprouts, 1 cup shrimps-shelled, Cooking oil for deep frying.

Procedure:
Make a batter by combining flour, baking powder, water, and beaten eggs. Add onions, salt, and pepper; mix well. Fold in bean sprouts.

Heat cooking oil in a deep frying pan. Shape the batter into round patties. Lay a few piece of boiled shrimp on top and. Fry until golden brown. Drain in paper towel.

Recipe 3. Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts (Togue)

1/2 kg. bean sprouts, 1 cup small size shrimp, peeled, 1 clove of garlic, chopped, 1 medium size onion, 1 small size carrot, cut into 2” strips, 1 small size bell pepper, cut into 2” strips, 1/2 cup water mix in 2 tbsp. oyster sauce, 1 tsp. white sugar, dash of salt, pepper, and vegetable oil about 3 tbsp. for sauteeing.

Procedure:

In a sauce pan, sauté garlic and onion in hot oil. Add shrimp, stir for 3-5 minutes. Add dash of pepper, sugar, and salt and 1/2 cup water with 2 tbsp. oyster sauce. Add bean sprouts, carrots and bell pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until vegetables are just half cooked. Remove from pan immediately and serve in a platter.

Lumpia (Springroll or Eggroll)

Fried Lumpia (Eggroll)

Types of Lumpia (Springroll) in the Philippines:

1. Lumpia Hubad

Lumpiang Hubad literally means naked spring roll. It is basically unwrapped (without the crepe).

2. Lumpia Sariwa

Lumpiang Sariwa, or fresh spring rolls in English, consist of minced ubod (coconut tree) chicken or pork, crushed peanut, lettuce leaf and egg crepe. This variety is not fried.

3. Lumpia Shanghai (Fried)

Consist of mince pork, onions, egg, and carrots.

4. Lumpiang Prito

Lumpiang Prito literally means fried spring roll. Ingredients consists of vegetable variety of your choice, be it cabbage, beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, bean sprouts etc.

5. Lumpia Banana

Banana Lumpia or Turon is a Philippine dessert, made by thinly slicing pieces of bananas cut lengthwise, dusting in granulated sugar, rolling in a wrapper and frying. Brown sugar is coated while in the frying pan for additional sweetness of the wrapper.

Sauce to dip lumpia in: soy sauce, vinegar, diced garlic, dash of black pepper