Fried Talong with Bagoong

The first day of lent for this year started last Wednesday (Feb 17, 2010); this is also known as Ash Wednesday. During the Lenten season, Catholics are encouraged to practice fasting and abstinence. Abstinence is a form of personal sacrifice wherein one temporarily refrains (or abstains) from eating meat and indulging in other pleasurable food (this also applies in other areas such as lifestyle etc.). On the other hand, fasting refers to limiting one’s usual food intake for a day. This is usually done by just eating one full meal for the whole day.

Trying to abstain from meat, I prepared a simple and quick dinner meal which I refer to as Fried Talong with Bagoong. All I needed were two pieces of Chinese eggplants, some cooking oil, and cooked shrimp paste (bagoong). You can figure-out how this is done by simply looking at the picture but if you still have second thoughts then please allow me to narrate the steps.

The first thing I did was to wash the eggplants then sliced them diagonally about half an inch thick. I immediately fried eggplants until the color turns medium brown. I make sure to limit the use of cooking oil since sliced eggplants easily absorbs it – I don’t want my food to be very oily. After frying, I placed it in a serving plate with bagoong on the side. That’s how quick and simple it was.

Do you have some simple recipes or meal idea for the Lenten season that you wish to share? Why not take a picture of it using your digital camera or camera phone and send it to us. I’ll be delighted to feature them here.