A new digital cookery school for those hoping to break away from the same old meals in 2022, Rassa works alongside pro chefs to create 12-week courses helping people discover the culture, ingredients, and dishes from cuisines around the world. Far more intensive than many cook-along kits available, Rassa encourages participants to develop their own recipes, working with chefs such as Eyal Jagermann, co-founder of The Barbary in Covent Garden, and Budgie Montoya behind Sarap, who has shared his Filipino banana ketchup recipe.
For those choosing chefs Budgie Montoya and Gene Gonzalez’s ‘The Filipino Kitchen: East Meets West’ course, you’ll learn to ferment your own shrimp paste, cook over the open fire, and master the adobo while developing three of your own recipes with support from the professional chefs. Each course also features a box of specialist ingredients handpicked by the participating chefs and a curriculum made up of live creative workshops, recipe development sessions, question and answer sessions with the chefs, and pre-recorded content to learn with.
On his Filipino banana ketchup recipe, Budgie Montoya said: “Banana ketchup is a much-loved Filipino condiment that was introduced around the Second World War when American soldiers were stationed in the Philippines and were missing the taste of ketchup from back home. There was a shortage of tomatoes at the time, so a food scientist named María Orosa invented banana ketchup using bananas instead of tomatoes!
“This recipe is a great way to use up those leftover, mushy bananas and it makes a delicious marinade for fried chicken, or for adding to stir fries or any savoury dish you fancy livening up with a fruity tang.”
Filipino Banana Ketchup
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 3 medium onions
- 8-9 cloves garlic
- 80 g ginger
- 180 g vegetable oil
- 200 g tomato paste
- ¾ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 ½ tsp paprika sweet
- ¾ tsp allspice powder
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper/chilli powder
- 1 kg very ripe bananas peeled
- 400 ml coconut vinegar
- 675 g light soft brown sugar
- 200 ml soy sauce
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Peel the fresh ginger (chef tip: use a spoon instead of a peeler for minimising wastage) and cut into slices. Then prepare your garlic – chop off the ends and give them a good smash with the back of your knife before then peeling.
- Peel and roughly chop your onions and add to a blender along with the prepped garlic and ginger, plus the vegetable oil. Once fully blended into a puree, decant into a bowl.
- Take your over-ripe bananas – this is when the sugars have peaked and the bananas are at their sweetest. Break the bananas into small chunks and pop them into your blender with the coconut vinegar and blend to a puree. Transfer to a separate bowl to the one that has your ginger-garlic puree in.
- On a medium to high heat bring a heavy based pan up to temperature on the hob. Once hot, add your vegetable puree (onion, garlic, ginger) and keep stirring to avoid any burning. Cook for approximately 10 minutes, up until the point where you no longer have an emulsified puree but instead something which looks lumpy and where the oil is starting to split out. Then turn down to a medium heat.
- Add tomato paste to your pan as well as the sweet paprika, turmeric, allspice, pepper and the banana-vinegar puree. Mix together. Add soy sauce and continue to stir. Finally, add the sugar. Mix together and turn the heat down to a gentle simmer. You want to make sure there is a smooth consistency so you can use a whisk at this stage to combine. Leave to cook out and thicken to a ketchup-like consistency. Then it’s ready to serve or to use as a marinade or stir fry sauce.
Rassa’s The Filipino Kitchen: East Meets West, Israeli Dining: Sunrise to Sunset, and Irish Cookery: Sea and Soil courses will launch on 28th February 2022, costing £150 per month. Further information can be found at joinrassa.com.
Related: Sarap Filipino Bistro launches central London residency