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Deep Fried Bananas with Caramelized Sugar
From Wikipedia:
In the Philippines, banana cue is one of the most popular snack items at home, school, office and just about anywhere in the archipelago where plantain is grown. Banana cue may be a misnomer as it is not really cooked in a skewer over a hot ember like a barbecue. Rather, the peeled flesh of underripe plantain are fried in a boiling oil over a medium fire before they are held in a skewer ready for sale. There are two ways to prepare a banana cue. One way is to fry the peeled banana in a boiling oil with some amount of brown sugar thrown in to caramelize the flesh. Another way is to fry the flesh in a boiling oil until done. When done, they are scooped out of the cooking pan and placed on a dripping pan to allow the oil to drip before a generous amount of refined sugar is sprinkled over them.
Philippine plantains (called saba) are much smaller than the Latin American varieties, usually around 4-5 inches and somewhat boxy in shape. They are eaten mostly in the ripe stage as a dessert or sweet snack– often simply boiled, in syrup, or sliced lengthwise and fried, then sprinkled with sugar. They are also quite popular in this fried form (without the sugar) in the well-loved local dish, arroz a la cubana, consisting of minced picadillo-style seasoned beef, white rice, and fried eggs, with the fried plantains on the side. In addition, there is the equally popular midday snack turon, sliced ripe plantain wrapped in Chinese egg roll wrapper and deep-fried with a brown sugar glaze.
The traditional South American style large plantains (grown in the southern Philippines) are now increasingly available in local Manila markets, though their use is limited, as a relatively small number of Filipinos are aware that they can be eaten as a savoury (e.g. as tostones, patacones, and so on).
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