Thursday, April 30, 2009

Dinner Snapshot - Banana Curry

Last night, I found myself staring at the available food in the house. After a brief realization that we rely so much on fresh food we'd starve if oh, say, a pandemic shut down commerce, I focused on the more immediate threat of starving that night if I didn't figure out something for dinner, pronto. I hadn't been to the store in a few days, so pickings were slim. Remembering that David had tried a banana curry and wanted me to make one, I pulled eight baby bananas out of the microwave. The microwave? Yes! If you aren't storing your fruits in the microwave, you should be!

David didn't exactly give me any good details to go on, just "it was curry made with bananas". Fantastic. So I set off, hoping for some sort of Caribbean-inspired dish that wouldn't be a gooey mess. The final product was delicious once we got past the initial shock that we were eating a curry that was both sweet and spicy at the same time. While we consider this more of a sweet curry, it might blow some socks off. Exercise caution with any of our recipes that call for chili peppers...Some like it hot, some sweat when the heat is on. We're the former.

Aunt G. - Does this even come close to a Caribbean-style dish or am I smoking banana peels?


Banana Curry

8 baby bananas, cut into four pieces (or two grown up bananas)
2 tbs curry powder
2 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp brown mustard seed
1.5 tsp turmeric
4 shallots, roughly chopped
3 green bird's eye chilies, roughly chopped (use scotch bonnet if they are available)
2 tbs coconut oil (I'm sure that peanut would also be delicious and veggie would work just fine)
3 tbs coconut water (or regular water)
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water
40 medium, shelled shrimp
Jasmine rice, made per instructions

1. In a small, dry skillet over medium heat, toast the coriander and mustard seeds. Shake the pan constantly until the seeds turn brown and begin to pop. Do not let the seeds burn. Put toasted seeds into mortar and grind into a fine powder.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the spice powders, shallots, chilies, coconut oil, and bananas. Process until smooth.
3. Heat a dry wok over medium. Add the curry paste and the coconut water. Cook for ten minutes stirring constantly.
4. Reduce heat to low and add the coconut milk and cup of water.
5. Fast Method: bring the heat up to high until the curry starts to boil. Reduce heat to medium high and stir constantly for five minutes until the curry has thickened back up.
Slow Method: keep the curry on low and cook, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes stirring occasionally. Add small amounts of water as needed. This method melds the flavors together better than the fast method.
6. Add shrimp. Cook until pink and curled.
7. Serve over rice.

6 comments:

  1. Wow you changed things up around here... Maybe I can learn a thing or two :)

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  2. The traffic on the site has increaed three-fold, so I figured it was time to separate the cooking from the personal. Check out my profile to find the personal one.

    Stay well, Somer! I'm thinking about you a lot this week!

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  3. hey just found your blog through foodie fights! excited to look around a bit looks good. love the banana curry idea! me and dan have been tryin to find new ways to use our bananas from the tree outback and i wouldnt have thought of a banana curry... i like it and cant wait to give it a go!

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  4. Thanks for swinging by, Mandi! I was thinking of your banana tree the night I made the curry. I'm envious!

    I wouldn't have thought to make banana spring rolls. I'm going to give that one a shot as I am currently on a banana kick. The two of you are so inspiring!

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  5. Hey, I just found your blog googling for banana curry. I really wnat to esplore savory banana possibiltiies and want to try this recipe out.

    Does it taste a lot like bananas? Should they be ripe ripe?

    your blog looks great!

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  6. Hi Katie! Thanks for checking out my blog...It's a work in progress.

    When making savory recipes with bananas, I prefer the bananas to be slightly green or edible ripe. As soon as they start to sweeten up too much, they're a bit funky in savories.

    You can definitely taste the banana in this recipe. The way the bananas mingle with the peppers and mustard seed makes it so you can taste multiple flavor layers in every bite.

    Your blog is awesome! It's definitely my speed. I'll be trying your recipes...That is, after I make pho tonight!

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