bunuelos aga and maruya

march is chamorro month.  it is the month we commemorate guam's discovery day on the first monday in march, among other notable dates in honoring our native people.  growing up it used to be a week-long celebration that culminated into the university of guam's charter day celebration... but now it has evolved into a month's long array of festivities.

it was a yearly ritual throughout all my years in school - we dressed up in island attire, hosted visiting artisans and woven crafts, and binged on coconut candy and bunelos aga (banana fritters)!  the best part was singing along to live performances by jesse bias. one quick sidebar: i also learned all my catholic schoolgirl prayers in chamorro and to this very day...i can still recite most of the our father and hail mary.

my parents worked for the government of guam where we were easily integrated into all the local splendor!...especially the food.  it was the one true commonality that was obvious to me: that filipino food and chamorro dishes were frequently one in the same. a distinct difference for me is that i could actually speak tagalog fluently and foolishly made the assumption that I could one day speak the local language. having been born and raised in guam, i do identify myself as a guamanian moreso than filipino.  beyond the food, the brown skin, the spanish colonial influence there is that deep-rooted pride of where i am from rather than who i am. 

i hope to have a followup entry attempting to make coconut candy.  i very clearly remember the curly-haired and burly custodian lady, slaving under the unforgiving sun with beads of sweat threatening to drip into that batter she worked with just her hands. before winchell's donuts were the staple, these were the donuts i craved.  it meant frequent and laborious a trips to the neighborhood mobil gas station by bike and me barely making it home before that grease-infested, slimy little sandwich bag was emptied. i'm also including the recipe for maruya, the filipino version of banana fritters.  they are more pancake-like but the result is just as satisfying. the donut tree at the julalale shopping center in hagatna would be the place to get hot and fresh maruya.

bunuelos aga recipe:

2 bananas

2 eggs

2 c flour

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1. Mash all the ingredients together into a sticky dough

2. Deep fry over medium-high heat.

3. Drop equal portions into the batter until the dollops turn into quasi-ball shapes.

4. Very important!: remove from fryer as soon as they turn dark brown and fluffy. 

The longer you keep them in they become like sponges holding in the oil.

Traditionally these are dipped in maple syrup but I prefer them dusted with powdered sugar.

maruya recipe:

2 bananas

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Mash ingredients together and pour batter into a shallow frying pan (not deep fried!) of medium heat, similar to that of an omelette.  

2. Roll over fine baker's sugar and serve.

as you can see maruya is so much simpler but both are great ways to make use of those ripening bananas !

i've also been meaning to try either with rice flour and coconut milk as a gluten-free option.