Recipes Yucca Fries with Banana Ketchup Be the first to rate & review! Roy Choi spikes regular ketchup with ginger, Thai basil and bananas to make this spiced, fruity condiment. It's excellent with these crispy, starchy fries, though they can be served with plain ketchup instead. Slideshow: More Recipes for Fries By Roy Choi Roy Choi Born: Seoul, Korea; 1970. Raised: Los Angeles. ("I bounced through a lot of neighborhoods; we moved 12 different times.") Education: Culinary Institute of America; Hyde Park, New York. Experience: Le Bernardin, New York City; Embassy Suites, Lake Tahoe, California; The Beverly Hilton and Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen, Los Angeles. Career wake up call: "When I was 25, before I started cooking, I hit rock bottom. I was almost disowned by my family. Then one day, I was lying on the couch watching Essence of Emeril, and I had an out-of-body experience. I felt like Emeril stepped out of the TV and shook me by the shoulders and said, 'Get off that couch. Taste this, smell this, do something.' So I went to the bookstore, started doing research and read about chefs like Eric Ripert [at New York City's Le Bernardin]." Childhood food memory: Making dumplings in his family's Korean restaurant when he was eight. "In Korean cooking, there are two things that take a lot of prep, besides kimchi: Picking off the bean-sprout skin and making dumplings. You'll always see an old lady sitting at a table making them. You can't wing it--dumplings don't fall out of the sky; you have to sit down and make them." Guilty pleasure: Milk shakes. "I'm a milk-shake connoisseur: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, banana. I'm a laid-back dude but extremely particular about milk shakes—the iciness, the creaminess. When I cooked in Tahoe, the Nevada border was right across the street. So I'd hop across the state line and drink milk shakes until after midnight in the 24 hour coffee shops. I gained 20 pounds." On Chego!, his new rice bowl restaurant: "Chego loosely means 'thumbs up' in Korean. It's like when your mouth is full and your grandmother asks how her food is, you just give her a thumbs up." What he'd be if he weren't a chef: A topographer. "I can figure out a city in 10 minutes by looking at a map, I can almost see it. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator." Favorite cookbook: La Technique by Jacques Pépin. "It's amazing. For him to build that book at that time—amazing. He's the man." Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on April 30, 2014 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © Robert Fisher Active Time: 50 mins Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins Yield: 8 to 10 Ingredients Ketchup 2 large ripe bananas, peeled and chopped 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock 1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced 1/2 cup water 4 whole pickled jalapeños, stems discarded, plus 2 tablespoon pickling liquid from the jar 1/4 cup thinly sliced garlic cloves 3 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger 1 cup ketchup 1 cup lightly packed Thai basil Salt Pepper Fries 3 pounds yucca (about 4 yucca) Vegetable oil, for frying Salt Lime wedges, for serving Directions Make the Ketchup In a medium saucepan, combine the bananas with the vegetable stock, onion, water, pickled jalapeño, garlic and ginger and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat, stirring, until the bananas and onion are very tender, 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender and let cool slightly. Add the ketchup, basil and the jalapeño pickling liquid and puree until smooth. Scrape the banana ketchup into a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Make the Fries Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Peel the yucca and cut into 3-inch lengths. Cut the lengths into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Cook the yucca in the boiling water until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well and spread on a baking sheet to cool and dry; discard any stringy pieces of yucca. In a large saucepan, heat 1 1/2 inches of oil to 360°. Set a rack over a baking sheet. Working in batches, fry the yucca, stirring gently to separate the wedges, until golden brown and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the wedges to the rack and season generously with salt. Serve right away with the banana ketchup and lime wedges. Make Ahead The banana ketchup can be refrigerated for up to 10 days. Rate it Print