Banana-Cue

All of the Filipino dishes I make in this blog are reminiscent of my childhood days in the old country. This recipe is one of them. Banana-Cue is a street food often sold as an afternoon snack. I remember numerous stands of food vendors selling their specialties outside the gates of my elementary school, ready to sell their goodies to hungry students after a long day of school. Many of the food stands sold sweets, such as banana cue. My parents rarely allowed us to buy street food for sanitary reasons. They always feared that I would get sick by the way some vendors prepared their food. I guess that's one of the reasons I chose my career in food safety. But when we managed to convince my parents to buy us an afternoon snack, we were often treated to banana cue.

Filipinos have a strange way of naming their foods. Our Filipino barbecue is usually served on a stick. Therefore, everything else served on a stick always ended with a "cue." Hence the name "banana-cue." Its made of a saba banana that is only found in the Philippines. Saba is mainly a cooking banana and is one of the most important banana variety in Philippine cuisine. We're lucky enough to have an abundance of them in our local Filipino grocery store. And when I saw them during my recent trip to the Filipino store, I decided it was time to introduce this yummy snack to hubby and my daughter.

3 ripened saba banana (make sure its not over-riped), cut into 4 pieces

3/4 cups brown sugar

3 Tbsp. oil

1) Heat oil over medium-low heat. Add banana pieces and cook until they start to brown on all sides, about 3-5 minutes.

2) Stir in brown sugar. Continue cooking until sugar begins to melt, stirring occasionally. Once sugar has completely melted, continue stirring until all banana pieces have been coated with the sugar. Remove banana pieces and place on a plate lined with parchment or wax paper. Cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Serve threaded on a wooden skewer.