Minatamis na Saging (and Saba Con Yelo)
 
 
Go bananas over Minatamis na Saging or Sweetened Saba Bananas. They're sweet, hearty, and satisfying, perfect as dessert or snack. Kain na, let's eat!
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • 1½ cup water
  • ½ cup organic brown sugar (in the US, non-organic brown sugar is not vegan)
  • 2 ripe saba bananas, peeled and thinly sliced (the shape doesn't need to be precise).
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
  • Saba Con Yelo:
  • non-dairy milk
  • shaved ice
Instructions
  1. In a small pot, combine water, sugar, and salt.
  4. Heat pot over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
  5. Add bananas, cover the pot, and simmer for 30 minutes (the syrup won't really be thick and syrupy but will definitely be thicker).
  7. Turn off heat and serve hot, warm, or chilled.
Saba Con Yelo
  1. Place your preferred number of saba pieces in a glass (I usually like to put 4-6 pieces but it really doesn't matter how many).
  2. Top with shaved ice. You can make homemade shaved ice by getting an ice shaver, which you can find at Asian grocery stores (see notes below).
  4. Pour non-dairy milk.
  6. Serve immediately.
Notes
If you live outside the Philippines, you can still have access to saba bananas. Just check your neighborhood Asian grocery stores and Filipino grocery stores, specifically at the produce section. Here in the Bay Area, they're not that expensive. Choose saba bananas that are soft and tender when pinched. You can also use plantains as an alternative.

Aside from vanilla extract, you can also add nutmeg and/or cinnamon.

In the US, non-organic brown sugar is not vegan because it uses animal bone char in its refining process.

You can make homemade shaved ice by getting an ice shaver, which you can find at Asian grocery stores. It looks like this:
Recipe by ASTIG Vegan at https://www.astigvegan.com/minatamis-na-saging/