Cooking with banana peelings

The bad stuff coming out in the papers and the skyrocketing utility bills placed on my dresser by the household help have made my thoughts turn to food, and my feet to rush to the ref and find food to drive my troubles away.

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The other week, on my way to the launching of "Budbod Sustansya", a food topping designed by food technologists with the support of Approtech Asia to add nutritional value to the diet of the urban and rural poor, I met the inventor of a myriad ways to cook the banana fruit. But it isn’t the banana alone she’s cooked up recipes with. It’s banana peelings, and also banana tubers and roots.

Ofelia A. Panganiban has worked on banana peelings for many years, concocting appetizers, salads, main dishes and desserts out of peelings that we throw away. Ofelia’s friend, Luz E. Sabas, founder of the Recycling Movement of the Philippines, writes in the preface to Ofelia’s pamphlet entitled, "Outrageous Banana – Peelings o-o-oh Peelings," thus: "Mrs. Ofelia A. Panganiban, the author of the compilation of unique recipes deserves to be congratulated and commended for her efforts not only for enriching further exotic Philippine cookery but more significantly because it is launched during these challenging times of rising food costs and economic difficulties."

In fact, writes Luz, "Few plants in the Philippines can compare with the banana tree in versatility and variety of its myriad uses. Banana peeling, either green or ripe, as principal ingredient in delicious Filipino dishes is yet another creative and ingenious use of this wonderful tropical plant."

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Here are three of Ofelia’s recipes:

Saba Bola-Bola with Sweet and Sour Sauce

Ingredients:
2 cups of boiled saba peeling, chopped until pasty
1 tsp. garlic, crushed
2 tbsp. green onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 pcs. beef cubes
2 pcs. pork cubes
4 tbsp. banana vinegar
5 tbsp. flour

Procedure: Mix all ingredients except no cooking oil in basic ingredients. Form into balls. Fry in hot oil until balls turn golden brown. Serve with sweet and sour sauce or catsup Makes 4 serving.

Banana con sotanghon

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh half-ripe saba banana peelings, cut crosswise
1/4 kilo sotanghon, soaked in water
2 pcs. chicken cubes
2 pcs. shrimp cubes
3 segments garlic, crushed
1 pc. onion, chopped
5 cups water
2 stems green onions
3 stalks celery
1 tsp black pepper, pounded
3 tbsp. soy sauce or oyster sauce

Procedure: Squeeze banana peelings in salt and water. Wash and drain. Saute garlic and onion. Add peelings, chicken and shrimp cubes and five cups water. Cook until peelings are tender. Add celery, soy sauce, tokwa, pre-soaked sotanghon, green onions and pepper. Serve hot. Good for eight persons.

Sunshine Juice

Ingredients:
1 large lacatan banana
1/2 cup green mango, grated
1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple juice
1 1/2 cup second class brown sugar
2 tbsp. calamansi juice

Procedure: Boil sugar in 2 cups water. Allow to cool. Pour calamansi juice over ripe banana. Mash with fork. Add grated mango, and pineapple juice. Stir in ice before serving. Makes eight glasses.