Ketchup usually means tomatoes, but in the Philippines the favourite version is made from bananas. Ajker Patrika's feature desk tells the story of banana ketchup, with its blend of sweet, sour and spicy, and how to make it at home.
During the Second World War tomatoes were scarce in the Philippines while bananas were plentiful. Food technologist Maria Ylagan Orosa popularised a banana-based ketchup as a substitute, and once commercial production began in the 1940s it became a household staple. Many bottled versions look red because of food colouring; the taste is sweeter and fruitier than tomato ketchup.
Ingredients: 2 cups mashed ripe banana, 1 medium onion chopped, 4 cloves garlic chopped, a little chopped ginger, 200 ml apple cider or white vinegar, a little sugar or brown sugar, 1.5 tablespoons tomato paste for colour and taste (optional), chilli or black pepper to taste, half a teaspoon each of cinnamon and turmeric, oil, salt and a little water.
Method: soften the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli in a little oil. Add the mashed banana, sugar, vinegar, tomato paste and spices, mix well and cook over medium heat until thick. Take it off the heat, blend until smooth, cool, and keep in a glass jar in the fridge.
In the Philippines it is eaten with burgers, hot dogs, fries, fried chicken or fish, used in sweet-and-spicy spaghetti and with lumpia, a fried filled roll, and sometimes to marinate meat.
Bananas are easy to find in Bangladesh, so the sauce is easy to try at home, the paper notes, though it is not an exact substitute for tomato ketchup; clean jars and safe storage are essential. It credits a 2012 post by David Wedge on the blog The Longest Way Home as the recipe's source.
Photo: Filipino banana ketchup (file), John Stephen Dwyer / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: Ajker Patrika
Comments
(0)