This week I am in a “clear out the fridge and kitchen modeâ€. 
Take leftover ingredients or unused ingredients and use them up. Three cups of leftover coconut milk from the second pressing of coconuts (first pressing used for an incredibly spicy Bicol Express) and some sliced saba bananas were thrown into a pot with some sugar and stewed until we got this: a yummy creamy and sweet stewed banana dessert that was good warm or the next day, served cold. I have always liked minatamis na saging which is essentially saba and a sugar based syrup slow cooked over a low flame, but this coconut cream version was also really good, really simple and used up what I had lying around. It had all the right hallmarks of familiarity, flavor, mouth “feel†that I look for in Filipino comfort food. If you used first press coconut milk, it would have been creamier and richer I imagine…
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makes me remember good old times in manila… try to top it with shaved ice and a topping of evaporated milk!!! yum yum!!
Hi Marketman! Now that you are on the subject of “minatamis” and Filipino comfort food, I’d like to ask if you have a recipe for “minatamis na kamote” or “binagkat na kamote as we call it in Bulacan. I’ve tried out so many recipes, using lime or apog to soak the kamote in, using caramelized sugar, baking it, etc. but I have never been able to come up with how my Lola used to do it (she passed away before I could ask her to teach me how). Her kamote always turned out chewy (makunat) on the outside but nice and tender on the inside with a dark brown sugar syrup. Some people tell me that there is a kamote that already starts out chewy but I have never been able to figure out which variant it is. I hope you or the other readers can help me out on this. Thanks
Maricel you have me stumped! I have not tried kamote prepared this way and we have to encourage other readers to post their ideas. The consistency of kamote does not lend itself to stewing like bananas. Perhaps your grandmother first fried the kamote pieces, then lightly caramelized sugar or created a syrup that she then poured on the fried kamote. If served several hours later then it would appear to be stewed together; textures softening and flavors melding??? Frankly, I am guessing and need more expert comments from others in the know… help?!
on a recent trip to bangkok, i fell in love with the minatamis na kamoteng kahoy (really makunat!!!) which they served with fresh coconut cream poured over right before you eat it. A thai friend claims it’s their method of cooking that makes it this way, though i have not had the luxury of trying it out for myself. This is how they do it, according to chariya: After peeling and rinsing the cassava, throw in a heavy pot together with some pandan leaves. Add 2c white sugar and 1 c water, no need to mix together. Cover pot and turn on fire to med high. As soon as it boils, lower heat to
and cook until cassava is tender when pierced by a fork. I hope i got the instructions correctly, but just to be sure, i will try it ou myself this weekend. Will even try it with camote for maricel..will let you know by monday. wish me luck!
Sorry for the very delated feedback to my minatamis na camote recipe trial, but it was NOT what i had in mind. maybe the recipe ws applicable only to cassava. Was also dying to try it using cassava, but it was’nt available in the neighborhood market this past weekend. Will try again soon :)
Hi Maricel…when i read your “binagkat” it reminded me of my “Inang” she passed away already and she taught me how to make “Binagkat” when I was 12….anyway if i can remember it right… just boil the kamote (diced about 1 sq. inch) until cooked ’til the mid section…add sugar and pinch of salt. turn off fire as soon as the sauce thickens. enjoy