Eggplant Quiche

Filipino-inspired, crowd-pleasing, budget-friendly quiche that will surely impress your family, friends or guests because of its exotic, flavorful, and delicious taste.

This recipe and How To Roast And Peel Eggplants came about when Liz from My Favourite Pastime had asked me what she could substitute for bitter melons on the Bitter Melons and Eggs recipe I posted a while back. She reminded me of the eggplant omelet, one of my mother’s specialty for breakfast.

This quiche may sound weird because of one particular ingredient, but it’s certainly not boring and surprisingly tasted utterly good and gave me quite an adventure preparing it. 😀

Salted shrimp fry, unlike anchovies, doesn’t have the foul odor (at least not the one I used). It’s just minuscule shrimp, salted, and fried. That is all. It may be difficult to find depending where you live because not all Asian stores sell it. However, you can always substitute salt.  Please bear in mind that if you do use salt to flavor this dish, the result won’t be quite the same. Although I can vouch that it would still be delicious, I can’t guarantee that it would be as gorgeous or as appetizing and as delicious as this one.

The sun finally came out and gave this dish beautiful color. 🙂

This recipe may be adapted (from my mother’s recipe), but the authentic flavor remains.  The combination of ingredients didn’t overpower the authenticity of this dish. It’s perfect. I was able to put together the right ingredients to create an exceptional, colorful, exotic, tasty and delicious quiche.  My mother would be very pleased indeed. 😀

Ingredients:

• 1-2-inch deep unbaked, frozen pie crust (see notes/tips)*
• 2 Chinese long eggplant, roasted (see How to roast eggplants here)
• 1 Tablespoon organic olive oil
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped red onions
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 4 pieces (about 1/3 cup) freshly cooked low-sodium bacon, chopped
• 4 large organic eggs, scrambled
• 1/4 cup 2% organic milk
• 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese
• a handful of fresh organic cilantro, chopped and divided
• Salted shrimp or salt and pepper to your taste (see notes/tips)*

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Read the notes/tips below before making this recipe to prevent mishaps.

Using a fork (or a knife), cut through the roasted eggplant crosswise leaving about an inch towards the end of the eggplant.  Throw away the stem (the end part of the eggplant). Repeat the process for the remaining eggplant; set aside.

Saute garlic and onions in a pan with oil over low heat until onions are translucent.  Add the bacon and tomatoes and cook just until the tomatoes are somewhat wilted. Turn off stove and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the scrambled eggs, milk, and salted shrimp fry or salt and pepper.  Whisk to incorporate. Then add the cheese, tomato mixture, roasted eggplant and half of the chopped cilantro.  Whisk to combined.

Pour mixture into frozen pie crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour depending on your oven.

It’s done when a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean and dry.  The photo below was taken literally seconds after I took the quiche out from the oven.

This was taken after about 10 minutes.

Garnish with the remaining chopped cilantro.

The sun finally came out and give this dish beautiful color. 🙂

Bon Appetit!

Notes/Tips:

• I used a Tablespoon and a half salted shrimp fry since the bacon, cheddar and Feta cheese already have salt.  Add according to your taste.
• This recipe calls for 2-inch deep pie crust. You can’t use the regular pie crust or mixture will overflow.
• This quiche yields 8 wedges and  is great when served warm.  Refrigerate leftover and reheat in the oven or microwave just until warm to refresh.
• All oven temperature varies depending on the size of your oven.  This quiche took exactly 1 hour to cook in my oven; adjust accordingly.

The adventure stops here.  I hope you give this gorgeous, delicious quiche a try. Until next time.  Happy Friday! 🙂

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