Eggplant omelette (Filipino tortang talong) brings together the smokey, sweet taste of grilled eggplant and the homey flavour of ground pork omelette. Eat it with rice, on its own, with potatoes, but ask any Filipino – always with ketchup!
(Want to try another savoury Filipino dish? This traditional pancit canton recipe is a favourite!)
Summer isn’t just about all these glorious fruits. Let’s not forget the wonderful vegetables in season too!
Visit your weekend farmer’s market and there’s an abundance of greens and yellows and yes, purples. Although eggplants are available year-round, they’re at their best in the summer until early fall.
Grilled eggplant is a summer staple and this eggplant omelette recipe takes your favourite grilled eggplant to another delicious level.
Let’s get to it!
What is tortang talong or eggplant omelette
Eggplants (or talong, pronounced tah-long) are a staple Filipino vegetable – it’s put in stews and grilled and fried and pickled.
Red and I make eggplant lasagna and eggplant parmesan and all other fancy eggplant dishes. But we always return to the talong recipe we grew up eating – tortang talong or eggplant omelette.
No, we don’t chop the eggplants up and throw them in with scrambled eggs like how you would a Spanish omelette.
Tortang talong is made with grilled eggplant that is then squished, then topped with ground pork, then fried. It’s delicious.
(Miso aubergine is another unique and delicious way to cook eggplant!)
Kind of eggplant to use
When I lived in Manila, I only knew of one eggplant – the Filipino eggplant. Long, skinny and light purple.
Then I moved to Canada and realized there’s a whole wide world of eggplants out there. Unfortunately Filipino eggplants are not available here.
So for this Filipino eggplant recipe, we usually use the Globe or Italian eggplant, cut into thirds.
You can also use Japanese or Chinese eggplant if you happen to find them; you can grill those eggplants whole.
Read all about eggplants here.
How to make
There are 3 distinct steps to making this eggplant omelette recipe.
Grill your eggplants
First you need to grill your eggplants. We usually just use a stovetop grill
though grill outside if the weather is nice!
Take each eggplant slice and drizzle with olive oil on both sides. Grill until they’re soft.
Cook your ground pork
While that’s happening (it takes about 15 minutes on each side to grill the eggplants), get to cooking your pork (or turkey or chicken, those can work too).
Sauté garlic and shallots in vegetable oil until the garlic is crispy (but not burnt) and the shallots are translucent. Then add your pork and cook until brown.
Add your bell peppers and seasonings. Allow this mixture to simmer for a few minutes then remove from heat and divide into 3 portions.
Put them together
The eggplants should be ready by now. Remove from the grill and allow to cool. When they don’t burn anymore, peel the remaining skin off (if they don’t easily come off, you need to grill them some more).
In a bowl, beat 1 egg. Put a slice of peeled eggplant into the same bowl and mash with a fork until it’s completely flattened and squishy. Add a portion of ground pork and mix to incorporate with the egg and eggplant completely.
Carefully slide off the eggplant from the bowl into a skillet with oil and cook until it’s golden brown (about 2 minutes) before flipping and cooking for another 2 minutes. Repeat for the rest of your eggplants.
How to serve
Filipinos are known for being rice fans so yes, eggplant omelette is typically eaten with rice. But it’s so filling that we’ve learned (yes, we had to unlearn eating rice lol) to eat it on its own or with a side of potatoes or salad.
But one thing we can’t (don’t want to) unlearn? Eating tortang talong with ketchup.
Filipinos have a love affair with ketchup too – have you seen our delicious recipe for Filipino spaghetti? The sauce has ketchup in it!
Hope you try this much-loved Filipino dish.
Other delicious Filipino recipes
Filipino cuisine is hard to define – there are Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Malay and American influences. Needless to say, it’s very unique! And delicious.
For breakfast, you can try champorado or chocolate rice porridge (told ya we love our rice!). It’s made with pure chocolate and is the perfect excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast!
For lunch or dinner, make a batch of this chicken sopas recipe (our version of chicken macaroni soup) for a hearty, filling meal.
There are so many Filipino desserts to choose from but you can’t go wrong with this national treasure of a cake, ube cake, made with purple yam. It’s stunning too!
Eggplant Omelette (Filipino Tortang Talong)
Ingredients
- 1 pc Globe or Italian eggplant (about 1 lb/450 g) sliced into 3 pieces lengthwise (see notes)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ⅛ cup chopped shallots
- ½ lbs ground pork
- ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
- ⅛ tsp Old Bay seasoning optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 pcs large eggs
- Canola or vegetable oil for cooking
Instructions
- Take each eggplant slice and drizzle with olive oil on both sides. Grill (we use a stovetop grill) until soft, mushy and translucent in several places (about 10-15 minutes on each side). Don’t worry about having pretty grill marks – you’ll see why later.
- While the eggplants are grilling, cook your pork. Using a medium-sized skillet on medium heat, sauté 3 cloves of garlic and ⅛ cup chopped shallots in about a tablespoon of canola oil until the garlic turns brown (not burnt) and the shallots transparent.
- Add ½ pounds ground pork. Stir and let it brown (about 5-7 minutes) before adding the ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper. Stir for another 2 minutes to allow the flavours to incorporate. Add ⅛ teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, if using, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Switch to low heat and let the pork mixture simmer for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and equally divide into 3 portions. Set aside.
- Let’s go back to the eggplants. Once they are properly grilled and allowed to cool so they’re not too hot to handle, peel the remaining skin off the edges (if they don’t easily come off, you need to grill them some more).
- In a small bowl, beat 1 egg. Put a slice of peeled eggplant into the same bowl and mash with a fork until it’s completely flattened and squishy. Add a portion of ground pork and mix to incorporate with the egg and eggplant completely.
- Carefully slide off the eggplant from the bowl into a skillet with about 2 tablespoons of canola oil on medium heat and cook until it’s golden brown (about 2 minutes) before flipping and cooking for another 2 minutes. Repeat for the rest of your eggplants.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only.
Happy grilling and cooking!
Did you make tortang talong or eggplant omelette? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.
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Kerry
This looks delicious! And a perfect healthy meal, will try it out!
Jolina
Hi Kerry! Another version of this actually just consists of eggplant and egg, if you want to leave pork out and make it healthier 🙂 Hope you like it!
Nina
Mmmm that makes my lunch look so blah right now, lol. Of course ketchup would go perfectly!
Jolina
LOL! I’m sorry? 🙂 Try this one time, and yes, ketchup goes really well with it IMHO.
Eileen Gray
I get lots of eggplant in our farm share. I can’t wait to try this as a change from ratatouille.
Jolina
Nice! Hope you like it 🙂 Thanks Eileen! Would love to hear how it goes.
Tom
Looks gorgeous never tried eggplant might have to give it a go myself!
Jolina
It’s really not a well-known dish but a staple Filipino dish. Hope you like it!
Ivelisse Estes
Oh that looks so good! I could eat that for any meal lol
Jolina
We do actually! Breakfast, lunch, dinner 🙂 Because of the pork in it, it’s meaty and very filling. Thanks Ivelisse!
Dawn
I’ve never had this before, but who doesn’t love an omelette? Looks delish! And as for the ketchup, it’s pretty popular ’round here. Though, I don’t use it as often as I used to and mostly use hot sauce instead, but I do enjoy it 🙂 Looks like quite the comforting dish!
Jolina
I’m not surprised that not a lot of people know of this dish. It’s quintessentially Filipino though, hope you like it! And yeah, hot sauce would be ah-mazing with this (though I think I would still mix it in with the ketchup haha).Thanks Dawn!
Milton
Ahh this is my favorite and actually our ulam last week haha
this kind of meal never failed me … I love to dip it with overwhelmin amount of catsup while my brother preferred to match it with soysauce
Jolina
So cool! Our is ubos na hahaha! We need to make another batch 🙂 It’s super sarap isn’t it? I think wherever in the world you are, Filipinos would make tortang talong and be transported back home in a single bite 🙂 (I’ve never tried it with soy sauce…I’m with you on the ridiculous amount of ketchup lol!)
Samantha Reveley
I don’t particularly like eggplant, but the omlette looks delicious! I’d definitely be open to trying it!
Jolina
Grilled eggplant takes on a smoky and sweet flavour, hope you give it another chance? 🙂 Thanks Samantha!
Karla
I actually prefer vegetables over fruit. Weird, I know. I never would have thought of egg plant in an omelet – with the ground pork, it sounds amazing.
Jolina
It’s not weird, vegetables are awesome too 🙂 Hope you get to try it Karla!
Jolina
Thanks for the invite Karla! I already joined 🙂 Looking forward to new and exciting things! Happy Saturday!
Elizabeth O.
I love eggplant, very sweet and versatile, there’s so many things that you can do with it and one of them is this lovely recipe that you have here! I’m sure it tastes as good as it looks!
Jolina
Yes! So versatile. I love it grilled with the insides all mushy 🙂 Thanks Elizabeth. Hope you try this omelette!
Crystal
Oh wow, this is so different and looks delish!
Jolina
Hi Crystal! Yes it’s not your typical omelette 🙂 It’s a very traditional Filipino dish though. Hope you try it!
Liz
Ooo this is fascinating! Never considered an eggplant omelette, but that’s why I read blogs, right? Thank goodness you explained the whole “ketchup” thing. I always think of ketchup as so American, but now I know how to use in properly on a Filipino omelette as well! I feel educated!
Jolina
Hey Liz! Now you got me thinking. The Philippines was an American colony for 50 years (if my history is correct) so it’s more westernized than people expect. We put ketchup on a lot of things. Now I feel like I’m having an epiphany haha! Ah well. Hope you try this omelette. It’s really unique and very Filipino, ketchup or no ketchup 🙂
courtney
Such an interesting meal and totally not what I was expecting when I saw the title! It looks yummy!
Jolina
Haha right? It’s technically an omelette because of the eggs but then not really 🙂 Hope you try it while eggplants are in season! Thanks Courtney!
Liz Mays
This would be a fun new omelette to try. Those flavor sound great. I don’t get to use eggplant very often!
Jolina
The lowly eggplant is often overlooked I agree. But it really is so versatile! Hope you like the omelette Liz!
Brian
TBEX is in Manila this year and I need to learn more about their food!
Jolina
Hi Brian! That’s awesome! I just looked it up and it starts a day before I have to fly back to Toronto! There are lots of must tries like lechon and sisig and Jolibee (ask a local what that is haha). I hope you enjoy your stay 🙂