Tuesday 29 November 2011

HOMEMADE BANANA KETCHUP


Banana ketchup is a staple Filipino dipping sauce. It is probably more popular and more consumed than tomato ketchup. A lot of Filipino dishes are best eaten with this sweet condiment.

It is hard to come by here in London and if ever I manage to get my hands on one, it doesn't seem to be as nice as I remember. I thought of making my own and upon research chanced upon some recipes. 

How interesting to find that banana ketchup is actually not just a Filipino thing. Some recipes had raisins and tomato in it so I imagine that there must be a chutney like taste going. However, Filipino banana ketchup is what I had in mind.




I was unable to find a recipe that I liked so decided to do it the fun way: by experimenting. I used plantain because there's no saba (cardababananas here. The bananas has to be the starchy variety such as the two mentioned. It also has to be semi ripe. It has to be sweet and just a bit sour. 

Banana ketchup is not as acidic as tomato ketchup. The taste of bananas is actually not at the forefront. I thought only garlic and onions can add that interesting twist of flavour, and I was right. I added some chopped chillies to make it spicy although it also has to have lots of ground black pepper. It was a lovely golden colour until I decided to add some food colouring to make it look like the real thing. Maybe I'll skip that part next time.

By the way, don't put it in a bottle like I did. Once refrigerated, it behaved like ketchup should and needed a lot of coaxing to get it out. A wide mouth jar is less troublesome. Lesson learned.


Ingredients:


1 semi-ripe plantain or two cardaba bananas (saging na saba)
1 3/4 c. water
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsps. cider vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 1/2 tsps. salt
1/2 red chilli, chopped
1/2 onion chopped
food colouring (optional)


Instructions:


Slice the plantains and put in a saucepan. 

Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until all of the ingredients are cooked. 

Puree with a hand blender until smooth. 

Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add food colouring if you wish. A little bit of red and yellow would result to a red orange colour, the usual colour of banana ketchup. 

Leave to cool then transfer to a wide mouth jar. Store in the refrigerator.


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Serve with
Crispy Unfried Chicken

Asian Fried Chicken Niblets
Filipino Unfried Chicken
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20 comments:

  1. Awesome! This is perfect for my hubby and little girl. Their fried ulam really swims in a pool of catsup.
    Thanks for sharing this!

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  2. This looks so delicious. Would love for you to share this with us over at foodepix.com.

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  3. i never thought of making my own ketchup until your post. didn't think it was this easy. thanks for sharing adora!
    malou

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  4. wow more than anything, this looks fun! i have never thought of making my own kechup before... my girls love kechup a lot and i can imagine how amazed they would be if i say i made the kechup myself! would definitely try this recipe, thanks adora!

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  5. Interesting recipe. I'm working on perfecting a recipe for tomato kechup I can give it as Christmas presents.

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  6. I had to look this up sounds really interesting and looks a lovely colour. Saved!

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  7. This is something completely new to me..sound very interesting and your photos are beautiful!!!! Have a lovely day sweetie!

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  8. Completely odd sounding, yet surprising good sounding. My husband loves to eat bananas with rice and beans, so I am sure he would like banana ketchup. I will definitely have to give it a try!

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  9. I'm such a sucker for new condiments, and not being very familiar with Philippino food, this one is definitely new to me!
    I'm dying to try out a batch. :) What would this normally be served with?

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  10. Isabelle, anything you'd eat with tomato ketchup would be good with this. It can also be served instead of sweet and sour or chilli sauce.

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  11. This sounds amazing, Adora! Would love to try making this banana ketchup! So nice of you to share!!!

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  12. BANANA ketchup?! WOW that's something my kids will be SUPER excited! Even I'm excited. I'm so curious how this taste like... I'm sure you can taste some banana flavor...with ketchup! Very intrigued!

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  13. Darn I thought you made this using "normal" bananas. I have like a whole bunch of very very ripe bananas that has to be eaten rather today than tomorrow, but guess I can’t use them for this.

    I can’t believe you’ve made banana ketchup. It’s awesome! I can’t wait to try it with some fries or chicken, or even on a burger…so many options…

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  14. Ahh, nothing beats a homemade banana ketsup without the artificial colouring. Looks good, Adora.

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  15. You're just too amazing, Adora! I only get to know about banana ketchup when Cathy came, then thru blogging and I did tried searching it but so sad, it's only available in the Philippines(???) I'm so curious about this well-known, yummy condiment that I wanted to try it very much! I searched for the recipes before but somehow and I don't know why, none of them attracted me, this is why I didn't try making. LOL ;P
    This time, I'm going to try using your recipe! I'm sure Cathy will be very happy when she comes back after Xmas! Tks so much for sharing! ;)

    PS: It's not easy to bring food and beverages in to SG, that's why I didn't tell Cathy to bring some back here. I also don't want her to get into any troubles for bringing things here.

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  16. Btw, how long can we store it in the fridge? ;)

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  17. I konw what you mean, Lyn. It is not easy to bring food on the plane from anywhere nowadays. The ketchup will last for about a month in the fridge as long as you make sure that your jar is clean.

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  18. Tks Adora! I'll let you know when I make this. ;)

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  19. This sounds like something fun to try. Thanks for posting.

    But I don't understand why it is so red. Is that caused from the 1/2 red chilli?

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  20. So sorry. I forgot to mention that I've added food colouring. I have added the details now.

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