Today is my birthday and since my age today is statistically over half of my expected normal lifespan barring errant bus drivers, pilots who faint from lack of oxygen or some strange form of cancer caused by excessive indulgence in La Maison du Chocolat large chocolate macaroons, I have decided to eat whatever the heck I want to eat. Heehee. Today I think it’s going to be some deep fried battered saba bananas (maruya) served with Haagen Daz Vanilla ice cream and palm sugar sauce. One candle only if we must have some semblance of tradition.
Yum. Street food converted to a high brow home dessert. First take a perfectly ripe (I like mine shy of ripe) saba banana and slice it thinly but not all the way through. Make at least 4-5 cuts and fan the banana out. Dip in a mixture batter of flour, water and egg and deep fry until a crisp golden brown and the banana is cooked through. Drain on paper towels to remove any excess fat. You can eat these plain or sprinkle with some powdered sugar for some sweetness. They are terrific like this.
But if you want to go a little over the top, serve them on a plate 
with a generous scoop of good vanilla ice cream and drizzle some palm sugar sauce on top of it all. To make the palm sugar sauce, just dissolve some palm sugar and water over low heat until the right consistency. Cool slightly and drizzle on the dessert. In a pinch, brown sugar dissolved in water would also work but there is a unique flavor to the palm sugar that gives it a slightly different touch. This sauce is also what is served with sagu in many southeast asian versions of the dessert.
What the heck is palm sugar you ask? Panocha in local markets (a blob pictured here). 
Also known as gula melaka in Malay desserts or gula Jawa in Indonesian desserts (gula being Malay for sugar and Malacca and Java being large production areas). Palm sugar is obtained from the sap of palm trees. To get it, apparently you have to “abuse†a palm tree by beating its young inflorescence (growth at the top of the tree – actually, the male part of the flower) and when you have abused it enough it starts to dribble the sweet sap that eventually cakes into palm sugar. The tree can keep flowing for 2-3 months! Yikes, shouldn’t there be an ASPCA (animal rights group) equivalent for helpless plants??? At any rate, palm sugar tastes terrific and works well with the banana and ice cream.
22 Responses
happy birthday marketman! enjoy your day and i am looking forward to more interesting articles and recipes…gem
Happy Birthday Marketman! God bless you and may all the good things you have shared with us your readers be returned to you a thousandfold.
Happy Birthday! Thanks for the great site. What else did you have to eat aside from maruya w/ice cream? (if you don’t mind sharing). Surely you must have really spoiled yourself.
Happy Birthday MARKETMAN!!!!! don’t ever get tired sharing your finds, recipes and adventures. . .
Have a good one on your birtday Mr. Marketman! Im assuming you have gracefully crossed over the ‘middle-age’ line with a healthy body (and teeth) and is looking forward to another period of eating binges and enjoying the simple culinary pleasures of life! Happy Birthday and thank for cooking up your wpmderful site. ;o)
happy birthday to both of us! =) me, i’ve decided to cook for my husband what HE wants to eat – for a change.
really enjoy visiting your site. thanks!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! MR. MARKETMAN. I hope that you will live more years. You are a good person so you deserve to live for longer years and share your blessings to those who have not. What a yummy maruya. May God bless you and your family. Enjoy your birthday party.
Happy Birthday! Thank you for sharing your epicurean thoughts, insights, experiences, pictures, and stories — specially Filipino food.
H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y ! ! ! Mr. Marketman, enjoy your day… i hope that you still share your experiences and new recipes to us. God bless and more power to you and your family.
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARKETMAN! God bless you for enriching our lives. Enjoy your day, but make sure you post whatever indulgences you have for your special day :)
enjoy. keep posting, cooking and eating
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARKETMAN! I really enjoy your site! Thank you for sharing all your discoveries with us! Enjoy this day, and may you have many more great eats.
Happy Birthday to you! : )
Thank you, thank you everyone for all of the bday greetings! And so many “lurkers” coming out of the shadows as well… thanks for visiting marketmanila.com!! And Liza, Happy Birthday to you!
Hope you had a great one! Cheers!
Happy birthday! More years to come and more market manila posts, too! :)
Hope you had a perfect birthday! That maruya looks great!
Belated Happy Birthday MarketMan! Was out of town and missed the party! Never too late to wish you a great life ahead though!
Hello, Birthdayman! Btw— Where does one procure palm sugar? Anyone in Salcedo Market selling the stuff?
Thanks hchie, Dia, Joey, Dodi and Gigi. Gigi, our cook gets the palm sugar at the Guadalupe market. Apparently most large wet markets sell it. It comes in these rather grotty plastic wrapped portions. I am assured it is so sweet that it must be safe…go figure.
Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! MM…. GOD BLESS YOU!!!
Belated Happy Birthday Marketman. Thanks for sharing your market finds, recipes and pictures. By the way, the maruya looks great. I will try this one for my kids.