momoese

This is an odd find! A few weeks ago a Chef friend cooked dinner for us and gave me some Tanglad/Lemongrass with instruction on how to get it rooted. So I followed the directions and now have Lemongrass in a jar with roots and suckers! So I started looking at recipes and chanced onto something called Inasal chicken. I have been researching authentic Inasal chicken recipes and heard about Banana Ketchup in place of Achuete oil(Annatto seed oil) as one way of basting the chicken while on the grill. So here is a recipe that is commonly used. I haven't made it yet but will this weekend when I make the Inasal chicken. I'm going to baste half with the ketchup and half with the annatto seed oil and see which one I like better.

Inasal chicken:
Authentic Chicken Inasal from Bacolod- The way it should be eaten! « Hi, This is Martin -OMG!!

Banana ketchup:
Jufran Hot Banana Sauce (Philippines)

Banana ketchup recipe:
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hours, 30 minutes
Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup golden raisins
* 1/3 cup chopped sweet onions
* 2 large garlic cloves, quartered
* 1/3 cup tomato paste
* 4 large very ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
* 1-1/3 cup cider vinegar, divided use
* 3 to 4 cups water
* 1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
* 1-1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp ground chipotle chile pepper or to taste
* 1/4 cup light corn syrup
* 2 tsp ground allspice
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
* 1/4 tsp ground cloves
* 2 tbsp dark rum

Preparation:
Place the raisins, onions, garlic, tomato paste, bananas, and 2/3 cup vinegar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until smooth and pour into a large, heavy saucepan.

To the banana mixture in the saucepan, add remaining 2/3 cup vinegar, 3 cups water, brown sugar, salt, and ground chipotle chile pepper. Stir to combine.

Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered, stirring the ketchup occasionally, for 1 hour and 15 minutes. If the ketchup gets too thick and begins to stick, add some of the remaining water (up to 1 cup).

Add corn syrup, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, for another 15 minutes or until it is thick enough to coat a metal spoon. Stir in the rum and remove from heat. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Push ketchup through a fine strainer, mashing the solids with the back of a spoon. Let cool to room temperature, pour into glass bottles, cover, and refrigerate. Use within 1 month. Banana ketchup is especially good as a condiment with pork and poultry.

Yield: about 3-1/2 cups

Richard

Wow, Thanks!

I was curious about the Inasal Chicken recipe and digging into the link you provided, came up with this:

• Place your chicken parts in a bowl.
• Add lots of finely minced ginger, garlic, coconut (or cider) vinegar, calamansi, lots of chopped lemongrass (8 stalks or more), rock salt and lots of cracked black pepper.
• Marinate for an hour, stirring to coat chicken pieces evenly.
• Meanwhile, make the basting sauce with an entire medium tub or more of star margarine that you melt in a small saucepan over a low flame. Add a tablespoon or so of achuete oil if you are one of those who must have the color and even more cracked black pepper. [Alternately, use Banana Ketchup instead of this basting sauce.]
• Barbecue over medium to low flames until cooked, basting several times.

- from Market Manila, a blog about food in the Philippines and around the globe. www . marketmanilla . com

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momoese

I saw that where he said he liked it better basted with margarine which is supposedly an old secret technique.

I'm looking into some other Lemongrass recipes as well. I think it's going to be fun having my own. I still haven't figured out if it's invasive or not, so I think for now I'll just container grow it.

mskitty38583

lemongrass can be invasive...but just plant it in a pot and sink the pot in the ground and it should be ok. then you have to worry about the birds eating the seeds and pooping them all over your yard...youll have lemongrass everywhere. my mom did. lol.

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momoese

Guess I'll have to keep the flowers trimmed all the time!

mskitty38583

when you rub, or cut the lemongrass it perfumes the air with a heavenly scent. yummy. my chocolate mint does the same thing. too bad i dont eat mint. i grow it for the chocolate smell.

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momoese

That's too funny, I've grown Chocolate Mint just for the smell too! I'm not a big fan of Mint unless it's in gum or candy form.

mskitty38583

i dont like mint at all. i get the crest expressions toothpast in the orange flavor or in the cinnamon. mint upsets my stomach. yuck. lol.

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island cassie

Two great recipes Mitchel - thanks! I find lemon grass to be clump forming and not a problem - is there more than one type? The only problem I do have with it is that the dogs love it too, so I have to keep some protected or else when I need it, it is all chewed!

Cassie

mskitty38583

oh cassie great idea! doggie hygene.....for bad doggie breath.....now ive got to get some lemongrass. lol. or i can just give them the chocolate mint!

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momoese

That a good question! I know as a kid I used to chew on the ends of "sour grass" The kind with the tall flower stems and little yellow flowers. I wonder if Sam is confusing the two, or maybe there is a non clumping variety of Tanglad (Lemongrass)?

mskitty38583

i used to chew the sour grass to. i know that the lemongrass my mom had went crazy till the neighbor cat pottied on it and it died.

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momoese

I don't see any info on the net about it being invasive but there is plenty of info about it's medicinal uses.

Here is some growing info:
Lemongrass growing information

mskitty38583

im wondering if something else got in the pot with the lemongrass like her mint, that she had and maybe thats why it ran?

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momoese

Hmmmm, lol, found this

I grew up in Manila, so I never really got to taste tanglad until I moved to the US and discovered Thai food. But then, I realized that I actually met tanglad before.

This herb grew wildly on the dust paths outside my lola’s home in Mindoro. To people in my lola’s hometown, tanglad was a weed. Lola would get upset when a shoot of tanglad would spring up in her garden. If you don’t nip it in the bud, lola said, the tanglad would take over and choke the gumamela and santan.

Though vilified as a weed, this plant has numerous medicinal benefits. It makes a refreshing, lemony iced tea. Tanglad is also really easy to grow. It imparts a spicy citrusy fragrance. So much return, from such a low-key plant. That’s an herb you gotta respect.

I have a patch growing near the wall of my yard. We’re in zone 10, for those of you interested in trying to grow this wonderful herb. It practically takes care of itself (You hear that, you high maintenance princessy roses? There’s a thing or two you can learn from the tanglad)

Tanglad is a survivor. It’s a plant that takes root. Those are qualities that resonate strongly with me.

momoese

Wow, you have to read this!

Paglas Corporation

island cassie

Thanks for the growing information - that looks and sounds like the grass I have. I agree it is a great plant and no trouble at all.

Cassie

momoese

So now we just need Richard to tell us how to properly feed the Tanglad! I would assume it needs plenty of N.

island cassie

Mitchel - that article about the medicinal properties is amazing - the Dominicans here use it as tea - I think I will too after reading that!

Cassie

Richard

It needs Nitrogen and little else. It is invasive so I wouldn't encourage it. A moderate amount of composted manure would be fine. Definitely something to grow in a planter box. It's a runaway plant in several San Diego drainage channels.

That said, its a wonderful herb. The scientific name is Cymbopogon citratus.

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