Globecooking recipe : Banana ketchup (Philippines)

For most of us, if we hear the word ketchup, we automatically think of tomatoes, but in my Philippines-themed Kitchen Trotter box, there was a surprising recipe for banana ketchup. It was actually supposed to be a bottle of ready-made banana ketchup but their suppliers had had a problem with the delivery, due to a tropical storm, so they gave us the recipe to make our own while waiting for the bottle to turn up. It's a bit of a strange one - my first impression was not very positive, because I could taste all of the different flavours (banana, vinegar, curry, garlic) separately, but after leaving it to stand for a while, all the flavours mingled and it did taste better. It worked really well in the java rice, a recipe that I'll be sharing later in the week, and it could be used to liven up salads and meat or fish dishes, if you fancy something completely different.

Banana ketchup

ingredients :

2 bananas

150ml water

100ml vinegar

50g caster sugar

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

1tbsp maple syrup

1tbsp curry powder

Roughly chop the garlic and onion.

Add the bananas - chop them into slices if they are firm but I was using overripe ones so I didn't need to.

Add the remaining ingredients and use a stick blender to liquidise it all.

I found the texture to be a little bit too runny so I added in a mashed banana to give it a firmer consistency.

Leave it to stand for at least half an hour for the flavours to mingle.

It works very well in java rice but I was slightly at a loss to know what to do with the rest of it - I headed to google and discovered that it is used in assorted dishes in the Philippines, including omelettes, hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, fish, charcoal-grilled pork barbecue and chicken skewers and other meats, as well as in Filipino-style bolognese sauce, which is sweeter than the traditional Italian one. I was surprised to learn that it is also coloured red when it is sold in bottles, to resemble regular tomato ketchup. I'll have to experiment !

*** Don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index ! ***

If you fancy trying some more Philippine cuisine, how about turon or sinigang soup?

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky because it used up my overripe bananas.