Filipino Whole30 Eats: Banana Sauce

It takes a little effort, but you can find condiments that are Whole30 compliant and that cater to the Filipino taste palette and traditions. For example, you may have noticed that I’ve been using coconut aminos as a soy sauce substitute, since soy is a no-no for Whole30. I have to admit that I think coconut aminos actually falls short as a dipping sauce (too sweet for my taste buds trained to our deep, dark, salty soy sauces), but it’s perfectly decent as a marinade for the dishes I’ve been making, such adobo, tapa, tocino, and bistek, as long as you combine it with salt. Whatever you’re marinating becomes infused with the sauce’s umami flavor, and the sweetness becomes muted in the marinating process.

When it comes to patis (fish sauce), the go-to brand in the US Paleo community is Red Boat fish sauce from Vietnam. And I like it; it’s smooth and it packs a punch, and with just anchovies and sea salt as ingredients, it’s completely compliant. But I also wanted a more familiar, local brand that had the distinct earthy, gritty, fishy, patis taste that I grew up with. I had to reject brand after brand, since they contained disallowed or borderline ingredients (Rufina has benzoate of soda, Tiparos has added sugar), but I finally found one that passed Whole30’s standards: Lingayen’s Best, made of fish extract and salt and nothing else. No starches, no preservatives, no added sugar. It would have been nice if it had actually been made in the Philippines (it’s processed in Thailand), but such are the vagaries of the globalized world we live in. You can’t have everything.

Vinegar was easy, since nearly all vinegar is compliant (though it’s always good practice to double check the ingredients list to make sure nothing hinky has been added). I just went with probably the most well-known brand in the Philippines, Datu Puti. And maybe it’s just nostalgia, but it’s mouth-puckering sourness seems to me just perfect for any Filipino dish you can think of that requires vinegar.

There are lots of options for coconut milk, though again, you have to cast a keen eye for such disqualifying additives as carrageenan and sulfites, nasty stuff that can play havoc with your digestive system. (Ideally, the only ingredient that should be listed in your coconut milk is coconut milk and water.) More often than not, I go with Aroy-D, a brand from Thailand, because it’s usually the cheapest. But I do get some Filipino brands now and then when they go on sale.

L-R: Red Boat fish sauce, Lingayen's Best fish sauce, 

Datu Puti cane vinegar, Gold Pure kalamansi concentrate, 

Coconut Secret coconut aminos, Aroy-D coconut milk

As for kalamansi, the tart citrus fruit whose juice is the indispensable seasoning for such dishes as pancit and grilled fish, I can get this in frozen, concentrate form. Again, I just make sure that the only thing in it is kalamansi, and maybe water – and nothing else. You would be surprised by the things they sneak into the most innocuous of processed foods.

However, one condiment that is impossible to buy compliant is banana sauce, or banana catsup, that unique and beloved concoction from the Philippines that flavors our fried chicken, deep-fried spring rolls, barbecue, and a thousand other dishes. It doesn’t matter if the brand is Jufran or UFC or Del Monte or Papa, it will be loaded with starches, sugar, preservatives, and food coloring (did you think that tomato catsup red was it’s natural color?). This one you have to make yourself.

So I did, and here’s my recipe for it. As you can see, I didn’t bother trying to give it the familiar reddish color (which is artificial to begin with), not even with a natural coloring agent such as annatto. And it certainly won’t taste exactly like Jufran; it won’t be as sweet, for one thing, since I didn’t pour sugar into it. But I think it’s still a nice little sauce that can enhance your dishes or that you can use as part of a marinade.

Now, if I can only figure out how to get compliant bagoong (fermented shrimp paste).

Translations

Patis (pah-tis): fish sauce
Kalamansi (kah-lah-mahn-si): small, very tart citrus fruit 
Bagoong (bah-goh-ohng): fermented shrimp or fish paste, very salty
Saging (sah-ging – first “g” is a hard “g”): banana
Saging na saba (sah-ging nah sah-bah): sweet plantain, aka saba banana, also sometimes called cardaba banana

Ingredients

• 2 very ripe saging na saba, peeled and cut into chunks
• 3 cups of water
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped onions
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 oz. (by weight) raisins
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste

Instructions

1. Bring the water to a boil in a sauce pan. Add all the ingredients and mix well. Bring to a boil again, then lower the heat and let it simmer gently, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, stirring every now and then. Add more water if necessary; do not let it get thick and gooey.
2. Remove the pot from the heat. Using an immersion blender, blend everything together thoroughly until you end up with a smooth purée. Adjust the seasoning.
3. If the sauce is still thin, return it to the pot and let it simmer some more. The sauce is ready when it has the consistency of tomato soup. (Do not wait for it to get to a catsup-like consistency; it will continue to thicken even after you have removed it from the heat, and it will become unpourable if you cook it too long.)
4. Once it cools down, bottle it, refrigerate it, and take it out whenever you want to use it to season your food.

Makes about 18-20 oz. of sauce.

How this is Whole30
Doing it yourself makes sure you avoid the chemicals, sugar, and other not-so-good additives that come in bottled banana sauce.

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