Last Saturday, my husband bought a huge bag of talong (eggplants) and, with the ground pork in the freezer, I immediately thought of making some tortang talong (eggplant fritatta). But I was recovering from the flu and the thought of frying the torta one by one made my dizzy. I baked them instead. Turned out to be a much better alternative. Less work, no watching while the torta cooked and much, much less too. Is it a lot different from the fried version? Not a lot but there are differences. First, I couldn’t use too many eggs because to avoid making the filling too watery. Second, I didn’t use freshly chopped vegetables for the same reason. The solution was less eggs and dehydrated vegetables. The juices from the ground pork were just enough to rehydrate the vegetables.
Dehydrated vegetables are available in most supermarkets. In Cherry Foodarama, the available varieties include pimientoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, onion leaves and a variety of mushrooms. They come in disposable plastic containers. I keep a couple of varieties for emergencies.
Ingredients :
4 medium-sized talong (eggplants)
400 g. of lean ground pork
1 tbsp. of dehydrated garlic
1/2 c. of dehydrated onion
1/4 c. of dehydrated celery
1/4 c. of dehydrated carrots
1/2 tbsps. of dried parsley
3 eggs, beaten
4 thick slices of cheddar cheese
1 tsp. of salt
1/3 ts. of pepper
Cooking procedure :
Steam, grill or boil the eggplants (skins and stems on) just until the skin can be pulled off. Do not cook until mushy. Cool. Holding by the stem, pull off the skins. Make a shallow incision from top to bottom, open and flatten the eggplants with the back of a fork. Set aside.
Mix together the rest of the ingredients.
Lay a slice of cheese at the center of each eggplant. Cover with the meat mixture. Make a mound, shaping and smoothing with the back of a spoon.
Arrange the eggplants side by side on a lightly oiled shallow baking tray and bake in a preheated 180oC oven for 15 minutes. Reset the oven so that the heat is on top. Cook the tortang talong for a further 5 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned.
Remove the baking tray from the oven and tilt to let the fat drip to one side. Carefully lift each torta with a spatula and transfer to a serving platter. Serve at once.
Yes that’s my favorite and I really want to try cooking it. thanks very much….
I never paid attention to dehydrated vegetables before until I read your recipe for baked tortang talong. I bake my torta, too, and now I know the reason why they didn’t look as plump as your torta: the watery filling. Well, Connie, my kids think I’m the “best cook in the world,” but I bet they’ll be surprised to know that I’m starting to get new ooking tips now from someone almost as young as they are. Thank you, and keep up the good work!
Josie, right, the water in veggies make the torta soggy too. And they create a map of watered egg mixture around the torta.
oww… I like torta too but somehow I get lazy frying it after grilling the eggplant and pre-cooking the meat, so this bake version is an awesome idea. I use alot of “dry” vegetables & spices too.. this will work out great.
Huh? I never thought it would be possible to bake Tortang Talong which is also one of my faves. I’ll be darn! Thanks so much. Glad I found you in this amazong world called “internet”. Thanks.
Hi, how do you dehydrate vegetables? and for how long?
Bridge, that depends on what kind of vegetables.
hi Miss. Sassy,
I don’t have a dehydrated veggies..if i will use fresh ones..do i have to cook the veggies first before putting them on the eggplants?Thanks!
No.
baking is a great idea. I will do that. I’ve always wondered how they can put meat on top of the tortang talong and not get them all messed up when they flip them in the frying pan. thanks.
ms. connie, how do you dehydrate onion, celery and carrots?
You can buy them dehydrated.