Bananacue

Saba bananas fried in sugar that caramelises around them in the pan.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 12 saba bananas, peeled
• 250 g brown sugar
• 600 ml oil, for frying, which is poured off
• bamboo skewers

Method

1. Use saba, firm and starchy. A dessert banana goes to mush before the sugar has caramelised.
2. Heat the oil to 170C in a wok or deep pan and fry the whole peeled bananas for 3 minutes until they colour.
3. NOW SPRINKLE THE BROWN SUGAR DIRECTLY INTO THE HOT OIL AROUND THEM, a handful at a time, and keep the bananas moving.
4. The sugar melts, foams and then coats the bananas in a brittle shell. The caramel is made IN the oil — bananas fried and then rolled in sugar afterwards give a damp, grainy coating that slides off.
5. Keep them turning so the caramel covers them evenly and does not catch on one side. It goes from amber to burnt in under a minute.
6. Lift them onto a rack, NOT paper, and let the caramel set for 2 minutes until hard.
7. Skewer two or three to a stick while still warm. Pour the oil off once cooled — the sugar in it means it is finished for other uses.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes