Turon

I've been craving turon for weeks and finally made them. Turon has always been my favorite treat growing up. I remember how I loved these growing up (and still do), I figure I shouldn't deprive my kids and have them miss out on these delicious treats.


Turon are made up of saba bananas rolled in brown sugar and langka then rolled up in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper and fried. Yum! Saba bananas are cooking bananas so they fall into the category of plantains. They are usually shorter than plantains but not as starchy. (More information aboout saba can be found in Market Manila's old post here). In the Philippines they are called saba and are available in many Asian markets. I've seen them in Latino markets as well labeled burro bananas. But if you can't find them, regular eating bananas (firm ones) can be used as well with similar results.


Adding thin strips of langka or jackfruit make these turon really stand out. It gives them an extra dimension and adds a certain sweetness. Fresh jackfruit is hard to come by in the U.S. but canned or jarred ones are readily available in the Asian supermarkets. That's the ones pictured on the top right corner in the photo above.

I've given you the classic recipe here but these sweets treats can also be made with any other ingredients that pairs well with bananas like dulce de leche, cinnamon, chocolate, and even marshmallows. Tangled Noodle even used walnuts and rum on her version of turon (along with the classic recipe); her post can be found here.


The picture above is an experiment to see if I can bake them. I used phyllo sheets instead of lumpia since I wasn't sure if I can bake with them. They came out crunchy on top and the melted brown sugar oozed so these are something you can't just pick up with your fingers and bite. A minor distraction but still pretty good.