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Turon
Chag sameach! I hope your Chanukah finds you well and happy.
This year, some friends threw a party on the first night of Chanukah. I introduced them to turon: Sweet bananas or plantains wrapped in lumpia wrappers, then fried to a golden crisp and dusted (or snowed) with sugar. My lola sometimes rolls the bananas in brown sugar before wrapping them in the lumpia wrappers for a caramelly flavor.
Most people have heard of lumpia; turon, not so much. While I prefer making it with plaintains, as they're not very sweet (though starchy) and hold together well under the heat, bananas are much sweeter and disappear faster.
I'm sure the sugar helps.
Turon
3 plantains or 3-5 bananas
Around 30 lumpia wrappers, defrosted
Fingerbowl of water
Sugar to taste (brown sugar or powdered sugar works too)
Oil for deep-frying
0. In a 2" or deeper pan or wok, heat oil to 365F. If you toss a drop of water onto the surface of the oil, it should dance around before evaporating. If it lingers, it's too cold; if it immediately evaporates, it's too hot.
1. Cut the plantains or bananas lengthwise into 1/8" to 1/4"-thick slabs. Cut each slab in half crosswise, if necessary.
2. On a dry surface, lay out one lumpia wrapper. Place one slab across one corner and roll it up once. Fold the left and right sides to the middle and continue rolling until you're almost at the end. Wet the end with some water and seal the edge closed.
3. Once the oil is hot enough, drop in the turon a few at a time. They should have enough room to float around the surface.
4. When the bottom is golden brown, turn them over and fry until the other side is golden brown.
5. Drain on a paper towel. Transfer to serving plates and dust/douse/snow with sugar. Serve hot.
Ube latkes with jackfruit jam
Even though it's a season away, Chanukah inspires me the most in terms of what Filipino dishes I can make kosher and bring to a party. What better things to celebrate the triumph of the Maccabees than crispy, fried food? Latkes, in their myriad forms, have always been a favorite pancake of mine. I love their crispy, savory outside crunch and their mealy, creamy, steamy insides. I love them with applesauce, apple butter, blackberry jam, sour cream and salsa, hot sauce, banana sauce, you name it, I love it. I like the shredded potato ones just as much as the blended batter ones. Yet I have never seen a purple latke, until now. I've added ube to pancakes--why not ube to latkes (or everything else, for that matter)?
Ube, being a starchy root, tends to soak up moisture faster than a microfiber towel underneath freshly washed dishes.
Consequently, the below recipe incorporates a little more liquid than a plain potato latke recipe. Cook these the same way you'd cook a normal latke, whether you deep-fry it or pan-fry it.Ube latkes 8oz grated ube (either frozen or fresh. Defrost if frozen.)
8oz grated potatoes
1 cup rice milk, milk, or your favorite milk substitute
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
Oil for frying1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Heat a cast-iron or a non-reactive pan over medium-high heat.
3. When pan is hot, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
4. Test oil for hotness: Drop 1/4 tsp of water into the pan. If it balls up and skitters around before evaporating, the oil's ready. If it instantly evaporates, it's too hot. If it lingers and splatters all over the place, it's not hot enough.
5. When oil is hot enough, pour in latke batter 1/4 cup at a time. Fry until golden brown, turning once. Top with sour cream and jackfruit jam, below. Serve hot.Jackfruit jam8oz jackfruit
8oz sugar
1 package pectinPrepare jackfruit according to package directions for citrus.
Ube, being a starchy root, tends to soak up moisture faster than a microfiber towel underneath freshly washed dishes.
Consequently, the below recipe incorporates a little more liquid than a plain potato latke recipe. Cook these the same way you'd cook a normal latke, whether you deep-fry it or pan-fry it.Ube latkes 8oz grated ube (either frozen or fresh. Defrost if frozen.)
8oz grated potatoes
1 cup rice milk, milk, or your favorite milk substitute
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
Oil for frying1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Heat a cast-iron or a non-reactive pan over medium-high heat.
3. When pan is hot, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
4. Test oil for hotness: Drop 1/4 tsp of water into the pan. If it balls up and skitters around before evaporating, the oil's ready. If it instantly evaporates, it's too hot. If it lingers and splatters all over the place, it's not hot enough.
5. When oil is hot enough, pour in latke batter 1/4 cup at a time. Fry until golden brown, turning once. Top with sour cream and jackfruit jam, below. Serve hot.Jackfruit jam8oz jackfruit
8oz sugar
1 package pectinPrepare jackfruit according to package directions for citrus.
Cheese wontons
Ah, wontons: Savory vegetables, "meat" or cheese wrapped in a crispy, thin triangle (or half-moon) of dough, dipped in sukang or sweet and sour sauce. Sound familiar?
You can fill wontons with whatever ingredients you want, and you can even make your own wonton wrappers if you really want to kill time.
These days she fills his with cheese, which when freshly made melts in your mouth almost instantly with a pleasant crunch.Here are two cheese wontons for you to try next time you want to deep-fry something. They make great snacks for Chanukah, along with the turon and lumpia.
Cheese wontons
These are really quick to make--you can assemble them while the oil is heating. While they are a little more substantial to bite into, they don't melt in your mouth as easily as the cream cheese ones.
8 oz firm cheese like cheddar or mozzarella, cut into 1x1-inch squares 1/4 inch thick
1 package wonton wrappers
Bowl of cold water for dipping fingers
1. Fill a frying pan at least 1" and up to half full of oil and place over medium-high heat.
2. Meanwhile, assemble wontons:
a. Place a square in the middle of the wonton wrapper.
b. Wet a finger. If using square wrappers, wet two edges of the wrapper with your finger. If using circular wrappers, wet one-half of the edge with your finger.
c. Fold the wrapper in half and press the edges together. If the edges keep separating, use a little more water; if they're pasty, use a little less. Make sure that the cheese doesn't spill out of the wrapper.
3. When oil is hot, drop a few wontons into the oil and fry until golden brown, turning if necessary. Drain on a paper towel and serve hot.
Cream cheese and mushroom wontons
These are particularly delicious fresh out of the fryer--they're impossibly creamy and wonderful.
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz mushrooms, diced finely
Herbs to taste
1 package wonton wrappers
Bowl of cold water for dipping fingers
1. In a bowl, whip together cream cheese and mushrooms until well blended. Season with herbs if desired.
2. Fill a frying pan at least 1" and up to half full of oil and place over medium-high heat.
3. Meanwhile, assemble wontons:
a. Place about two teaspoons of the cream cheese mixture in the middle of the wonton wrapper.
b. Wet a finger. If using square wrappers, wet two edges of the wrapper with your finger. If using circular wrappers, wet one-half of the edge with your finger.
c. Fold the wrapper in half and press the edges together. If the edges keep separating, use a little more water; if they're pasty, use a little less. Make sure that the cheese doesn't spill out of the wrapper.
4. When oil is hot, drop a few wontons into the oil and fry until golden brown, turning if necessary. Drain on a paper towel and serve hot.
Enjoy!
Lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) with sukang or sweet and sour sauce
Holidays and birthdays mean it's time to break out special dishes and special foods: ginataan mais, bibingka, and almost everyone's favorite, lumpia. Something about that crispy-crackly wrapper around warm, savory veggies (or meat) seduces people.Getting it just right is an art. You can't wrap it too thick, because then the insides are still gummy, and you can't wrap it too thin, because the insides won't cook before the outside is that perfect shade of golden brown. If you put too much inside the wrapper, it'll break either when you roll it or when you fry it. When Chanukah rolls around, fry them along with the sufganiyot. My favorite condiment for lumpia is sukang (palm or cane vinegar) infused with crushed garlic. My lola takes a bite out of her lumpia, then pours a little sukang into it before she eats the rest. Sweet and sour sauce and soy sauce also work well. Vegetarian lumpia1 package square lumpia wrappers, obtainable at any Asian supermarket
Feel free to substitute any of the below veggies:
1 small onion, diced
1-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 cup bean sprouts, blanchedsoy sauce, salt and pepper to taste
1 T cornstarch + 1 T cold water, mixed to form a slurrySmall bowl of cold water for assembly
Vegetable oil for fryingIn a medium bowl, mix all the vegetables and seasonings together with a wooden spoon or your hands. Mix in the slurry.
If you prefer a smoother filling, pulse all ingredients except the slurry in a food processor until they start to form a paste. Pulse in the slurry until well mixed. To assemble:
Place a wrapper on a clean, dry surface.
Take about two tablespoons of filling and spread it across one of the corners such that it forms the long side of a triangle with that corner.
Fold that corner over the filling and roll once towards the opposite corner.
Fold the side corners towards the middle.
Continue to roll until you reach the opposite corner.
Wet one of your fingers with a little water and seal the edge, much like you would an envelope.
Repeat until all lumpias are rolled. To cook:
Fill a deep fryer, cast-iron pan, dutch oven, wok, etc. at least halfway full of oil. You want the lumpia to be able to float on top.
Heat over medium-high heat. When oil is hot (a drop of water will dance across it before it evaporates), drop in a few lumpia at a time and fry until golden brown, turning once.
Don't overcrowd the lumpia--they need room to float. Drain upright on paper towels and serve hot with sukang vinegar or sweet and sour sauce.Sukang (garlic vinegar)
1/4 cup vinegar
1-2 cloves garlic
Mash garlic, then mince finely. Add to vinegar. Stir well. Use liberally.Sweet and sour sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
1-3 T sugar
1 t cornstarch + 1 t water, mixed to form a slurry
In a small saucepan, heat vinegar and sugar together over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Quickly stir in slurry and cook until mixture thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and chiles to taste.
Feel free to substitute any of the below veggies:
1 small onion, diced
1-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 cup bean sprouts, blanchedsoy sauce, salt and pepper to taste
1 T cornstarch + 1 T cold water, mixed to form a slurrySmall bowl of cold water for assembly
Vegetable oil for fryingIn a medium bowl, mix all the vegetables and seasonings together with a wooden spoon or your hands. Mix in the slurry.
If you prefer a smoother filling, pulse all ingredients except the slurry in a food processor until they start to form a paste. Pulse in the slurry until well mixed. To assemble:
Place a wrapper on a clean, dry surface.
Take about two tablespoons of filling and spread it across one of the corners such that it forms the long side of a triangle with that corner.
Fold that corner over the filling and roll once towards the opposite corner.
Fold the side corners towards the middle.
Continue to roll until you reach the opposite corner.
Wet one of your fingers with a little water and seal the edge, much like you would an envelope.
Repeat until all lumpias are rolled. To cook:
Fill a deep fryer, cast-iron pan, dutch oven, wok, etc. at least halfway full of oil. You want the lumpia to be able to float on top.
Heat over medium-high heat. When oil is hot (a drop of water will dance across it before it evaporates), drop in a few lumpia at a time and fry until golden brown, turning once.
Don't overcrowd the lumpia--they need room to float. Drain upright on paper towels and serve hot with sukang vinegar or sweet and sour sauce.Sukang (garlic vinegar)
1/4 cup vinegar
1-2 cloves garlic
Mash garlic, then mince finely. Add to vinegar. Stir well. Use liberally.Sweet and sour sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
1-3 T sugar
1 t cornstarch + 1 t water, mixed to form a slurry
In a small saucepan, heat vinegar and sugar together over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Quickly stir in slurry and cook until mixture thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and chiles to taste.
