Sautéed Japanese Eggplants
My Tita Lydia taught me this recipe. I don’t remember my mom making this, but when I had it at my aunt’s, I fell in love with it. And I asked her to show me how she made it. First of all, this is made with Japanese (or Asian) eggplants. They are not hard and thick like the traditional eggplants. They are long and skinny and have a thin skin. Try to find them free of brown spots. You can buy them at any Indian or Asian Grocery Store. (Tip: I try to buy all my produce at Asian Grocery Stores because produce is cheaper there than at traditional grocery stores.)
All I do is chop them up into bite-sized pieces or slice and quarter them, essentially. Then I sauté them in a pan on the stove (with canola oil) on a medium heat. I usually use 2 eggplants at a time. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll have before cooking. Once they’re cooked down, it will be a medium-sized bowlful. I heat them until the white essentially turns brown or translucent. Then I marinate them in a sauce made with Maggi Seasoning Sauce and canola oil. I just pour the Maggi in a small bowl and then pour the canola in until it floats (as my aunt says). I also add chopped green onions. That’s it. The sauce really makes it and I just scoop a pile onto my plate with white rice and spoon the sauce over both. Amazing.
After my mother died and I stayed at the house for a few months trying to get things organized for my dad, he had a vegetable garden and he was growing these eggplants. He would come home every day and go across this little stone bridge we had and he would come across carrying his harvest for the day, like a hunter carrying his game home proudly.
He asked me to prepare the eggplants in a certain way. I had never even seen these eggplants, let alone prepare them, but he explained what he wanted. (This was before the internet became a household name) Now I know what he wanted was Tortang Talong. I managed to do a good job of it, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. But my dad was happy with the results. He was missing my mother’s cooking no doubt, or at least home cooking. Here is another recipe: Filipino Eggplant Omelet.
When he explained what he wanted, he said to roast the eggplants (we had a turbo back then) and peel the skin off, leaving the top part on the top (stem). Then mash the body of the eggplant flat on a flat surface. Then put the eggplant into a skillet and pour scrambled eggs on top while it fried around the eggplant, flipping on to both sides. I suppose one or two eggs would work. That was all he told me, so I didn’t have much to go on then, but now (that was in 1994-’95) I know that the sauce I described above would be amazing on the Eggplant Omelet. Chives, canola and Maggi Sauce. Yummy. We served with white or fried rice. As they say in the Philippines, a Filipino breakfast.
When we had leftover or old rice, we would fry it in oil and sprinkle with garlic powder or crushed garlic to make greased rice. An easy side. This greased rice is also good with a Sunny Side or Over Easy egg.