By Kaila Henkin

5 Plantain bananas

1 cup of Brown Sugar, 0.25 cup of White Sugar

10 Eggroll Wrappers

1 cup cooking oil

Turon is an easy, sugary, classic fried Filipino dessert that my mother, who immigrated from the Philippines, taught me and my sister as we were growing up. Today, we still make this simple and sweet dessert at the kitchen table with the guests we bring home, from close friends to significant others. We demonstrate and teach our guests how to make the dessert while bonding over sharing a small part of our Filipino culture with those outside of it. Turon is a plantain, a starchier banana more commonly eaten in the Philippines, wrapped in sugar and an eggroll wrapper then fried on a pan, making a delicious crunchy outside and a soft, sugary inside.

To make turon, you first mix 1 cup of brown sugar and 0.25 cup of white sugar in its own bowl. Next, you take the plantains and cut them halfway length wise and then horizontally, turning a single plantain into four parts. Once you put an eggroll wrapper on a plate, lightly wet the wrapper with water and spread some of the sugar mix on to the surface. Then, take a single part of plantain and roll it in the sugar, making sure it’s completely covered. Place the plantain on to the wrapper so that a corner of the wrapper is facing you and the plantain is horizontal to you and that corner. Next, roll the wrapper with the plantain the way that you would roll a burrito, folding the edges inward to keep the plantain in place. Repeat this process until you run out of plantains. Finally, you place the rolled plantains into a layer of cooking oil on a frying pan, cooking each side evenly until it is a golden brown and crispy. Now you have the classic Filipino dessert of turon, enjoy!