Tortang kalabasa — Philippines

Tortang kalabasa, also called squash fritters, is a Filipino omelette-style dish made by mixing mashed or finely grated pumpkin, specifically calabaza squash, with flour, water, egg, salt and pepper, then pan-frying the mixture into flat patties. It is reported across the Philippines as a home-cooked dish, often prepared as a simple, budget-friendly side or light main, and it is grouped alongside other tortang, or Filipino omelette-style fritters, that use vegetables such as eggplant in place of meat or seafood. To prepare it, the pumpkin is grated or mashed and combined with beaten egg, flour and a little water to form a batter thick enough to hold together, seasoned with salt and pepper. Chopped vegetables or other minced additions are sometimes folded in at this stage. The batter is then ladled into a hot, oiled pan and fried on both sides until set and lightly browned. The dish sits close to okoy, another Filipino fritter, and the two are distinguished mainly by their batter: tortang kalabasa uses egg as the main binder, giving a texture closer to a set omelette, while okoy relies on glutinous rice batter, giving a crisper, more cracker-like bite. Because of this closeness, tortang kalabasa is sometimes itself called squash okoy or okoy na kalabasa.