Local name: Ensaladang talong
Filipino aubergine charred over a flame, peeled and topped with tomato, red onion and chopped hard-boiled egg.
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AI-generated image, not a photograph of the dish
Charring the aubergine skin against a flame concentrates its sugars and adds smoke no oven delivers. Rinsing after peeling would undo that work, so pick off the burnt flecks by hand instead.
An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.
Direct contact with the flame burns the skin and concentrates the sugars in the flesh within fifteen minutes, which is where the smokiness comes from. In the oven the aubergine steams itself soft, without that charred note.
Water would wash away the smoky juices you just worked for. Pick off the last pieces of blackened skin with your fingers or a knife tip, and do not worry about a few remaining flecks.
Leave out the hard-boiled eggs, the only animal product, and use soy sauce in place of the bagoong, as the ingredient list allows. Add a little more tomato and onion to keep the plate generous.
The tomato reached Europe in the sixteenth century and was distrusted for two hundred years. What each kitchen made of it, and the handling that matters.
How the aubergine travelled from India to the Mediterranean, what each kitchen made of it, and the techniques that decide the result.
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