A Filipino Breakfast

Author & Photographer: Alisa Boland

I’m back at home for winter break, so I’m revisiting a lot of my childhood comfort foods. One of my favorite nostalgic dishes is this vegetarian Filipino breakfast, which consists of sinangag (garlic fried rice), tortang talong (an eggplant omelette), a tomato and onion salad, and a fried egg. It’s flavor-packed, nutritious, and can be put together in a pinch.

So without further ado, here are my recipes for sinangag, tortang talong, and the tomato and onion salad!

Sinangag

. . . or, as we call it in my family, garlic fried rice. This is one of the first recipes I learned to make by myself, and it still remains my go-to way of giving day-old rice a flavor lift. Studding the warm white rice with crispy garlic bits elevates the leftover rice without overpowering it. It’s sort of like adding that “hint of lime” to tortilla chips. This dish can be enjoyed on its own or paired seamlessly with something else.

Sinangag is a staple dish of Filipino cuisine, in particular Filipino breakfast. In fact, there is an entire category of Filipino breakfasts called silog, a shortened version of sinangag at itlog (garlic fried rice and egg), which consist of garlic fried rice, a fried egg, and an ulam (main course), typically a meat like longaniza or tocino.

Ingredients

2 cups day-old rice
2 tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large pan, heat the oil and sauté the minced garlic on low heat, until aromatic.*
Add the rice to the pan and stir to distribute the garlic and the oil. Make sure to break up any clumps in the rice.
Cook on medium heat until the rice is heated through.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

*For extra crunch, fry half of the garlic on high heat until crispy. Once done, turn down the heat, add the remainder of the garlic, and continue on to step 1.

Tortang talong

(eggplant omelette)

The silky whisked eggs add structure and richness to the creamy charred eggplant in this traditional around-the-clock Filipino dish. For all its flavor, the techniques used are simple, making this one of my go-to weeknight meals.

Ingredients

2 eggs
1 Chinese or Japanese eggplant
2 tbsp oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Char the eggplant. This can be done either by broiling the eggplant on high heat for 15-20 minutes, or by laying it directly on the burner of a gas stove and using tongs to turn it regularly so that it chars on all sides. Set the eggplant aside to cool slightly (this will make it easier to peel).
Beat the eggs, adding in salt and pepper to taste.
Once the eggplant has cooled, peel it, set aside the skins, and flatten the eggplant using a fork.
Dunk the eggplant in the egg mixture, letting it soak thoroughly before transferring the battered eggplant to a large frying pan. Fry the egg-soaked eggplant on medium high heat on each side until brown and crispy (about 4 minutes).
Serve hot with cane vinegar.

Tomato and onion salad

I honestly don’t know what this is called in Tagalog and apparently neither does the internet. Part of the problem may be that although the core ingredients stay the same (onion, tomato, and citrus), there are many variations of the dish. Here is the basic recipe that I use, but feel free to tweak ratios or add ingredients, such as mango, eggplant, or bagoong (fermented fish paste)!

Ingredients

2 fresh tomatoes, diced
½ onion, diced (red is preferred, but white works as well)
Calamansi to taste (lemon substitutes in a pinch)
Soy sauce to taste

Instructions

Combine the tomatoes and the onions.
Dress with calamansi and soy sauce to your taste— a 2:1 ratio of soy sauce to calamansi is my preferred ratio.
Seriously. It’s that easy.