Turon
(too-rohn)
Merienda & The After-School Hustle
If you walked the streets of Manila at three in the afternoon, or stepped into an immigrant kitchen in Ohio right as the school bus pulled up, the smell is exactly the same: warm, melting brown sugar, frying pastry, and the floral aroma of ripe banana and jackfruit. Turon is the undisputed king of Filipino after-school snacks. There are no complicated batters and no fake restaurant flourishes here. It relies entirely on a street-level technique called asukal sa mantika, where brown sugar is dropped directly into hot oil to fuse with the wrapper, creating a shatteringly crisp, lacquered shell that tastes exactly like home.
Before you start
Set up a wrapping station.
Arrange the sliced bananas, 1/4 cup of the brown sugar on a plate, the drained jackfruit, a small bowl of water, and the damp towel-covered wrappers within easy reach so you can roll quickly.
Ingredients
- frozen Saba bananas6 large
- dark brown sugar1/2 cup
- canned jackfruit strips in syrup1/2 cup
- square spring roll wrappers12 med
- neutral frying oil2 cup
- water2 tbsp
Method
- 01
Generously coat the bananas.
Roll each banana half in the plate of brown sugar until thoroughly coated, which creates a rich internal syrup as it fries from the inside out.
- 02
Wrap the fruit tightly in a diamond fold.
Lay one wrapper flat like a diamond with a corner pointing toward your stomach. Place a sugared banana horizontally across the lower third and top with two or three jackfruit strips. Fold the bottom point tightly over the fruit, fold the left and right points sharply inward like an envelope, and roll tightly upward. Dab the top point with water and press down to form an impermeable seal.
- 03
Melt the sugar directly into the hot oil.
In a wide skillet, heat about an inch of oil over medium heat until it reaches 350°F, being careful not to let it smoke. Sprinkle one tablespoon of the remaining brown sugar directly into the hot oil and wait a few seconds for the sugar to melt and float toward the surface.
- 04
Fry and lacquer the rolls.
Carefully lay three to four wrapped rolls into the pan seam-side down without crowding. Fry for two to three minutes per side, actively dragging the rolls through the melting sugar with your tongs so the caramel adheres to the crisping pastry.
- 05
Cool on a wire rack to set the candy shell.
Transfer the fried turon to a wire cooling rack set over a baking sheet. Avoid using paper towels, which will permanently fuse to the cooling caramel. Let them rest for at least five minutes before serving warm.
Notes
Respect the wrapper and the banana.
Do not substitute thick egg roll wrappers, and avoid standard American Cavendish bananas at all costs; they will turn to mush in the fryer. Frozen Saba bananas from your local Asian market are the authentic, structural backbone of this dish.
From Cook Filipino in America.