How to prepare the banana
From a culinary point of view, there are 2 types of bananas: dessert bananas and cooking bananas. In this last category, the plantain banana is by far the most widespread. For each of these types, there are a multitude of varieties giving fruits that vary considerably in size, shape, color and flavor. Most of these varieties are unknown outside their countries of production. The main banana producing countries are located in Latin America and Asia, as well as in Africa for cooking bananas. Virtually all dessert bananas exported worldwide come from a single variety, the Cavendish.
Cook bananas in a sweet version
- Cooking bananas in a cake is possible with our banana bread recipe ;
- Raw, as is, added to fruit salads, cereals, in pancakes, or on skewers, with other fruits;
- In mousses, sorbets, ice creams. Or mash ripe bananas and add them to breads, muffins, cakes, pies, etc.;
- Put it in a blender with milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, soy milk or tofu, and other fruits if desired;
- Frozen bananas. Take them out of the freezer and let them thaw slightly. Whip or place in a food processor until you obtain a mousse with a texture reminiscent of ice cream;
- With coconut milk. Bring coconut milk to a boil with honey, add banana pieces, heat and serve .
… Or in a savory version for even more originality
- Fry chunks of ripe plantains in olive oil and serve as a side vegetable;
- Add chunks of plantain or green banana to curries or other types of stews;
- Cucumber salad. Cut bananas and cucumbers into cubes. Mix them with lemon juice, chopped cilantro, grated coconut (preferably fresh), finely chopped hot pepper and pieces of peanuts. Salt, refrigerate 30 minutes and serve;
- Potato salad. Cook the diced potatoes. At the end of cooking, add sliced bananas and cook for 1 minute more. Drain, add capers, black olives and season with a mustard vinaigrette. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours before serving;
- Another salad. Slices of bananas, pieces of apple, shallot and chopped celery. Add yogurt, a little lemon juice and, if desired, mayonnaise. Refrigerate and serve over lettuce leaves with chopped walnuts and dry-roasted in a skillet;
- Raita. Brown mustard seeds in a little clarified butter. Add grated coconut, cook for a few minutes and remove from heat. Add yogurt, banana slices, chopped coriander leaves, pour into a bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour. Serve with a spicy curry;
- Plantain fish. Brown fish fillets in butter or oil, turning once. Add lime juice with curry powder, cover, cook for 5 minutes. Add pieces of plantain split lengthwise, cook for another 5 minutes and serve;
- Thai style. Cook the black beans left to soak the day before until they are tender. Alternatively, cook glutinous rice in thick coconut milk with a little honey, until the milk is fully absorbed and the rice is fluffy. Cut a sheet of aluminum foil into rectangles of 15 cm by 25 cm. Place a small amount of cooked rice at one end of a rectangle, to which you will have added a spoonful of black beans, cover with a piece of banana split in two, then another layer of rice with beans and fold the aluminum foil over way to form a bundle. Steam for 15 minutes and serve.
A fruit for a multitude of possible cooking
- Poach the green dessert bananas in their skins (after washing them). They will then be more digestible and can be eaten without any other preparation or added to various dishes.
- You can also poach or steam ripe bananas, whole or cut into sections. It takes about ½ hour of cooking; Warm green dessert bananas, previously cooked, in a mixture of olive oil and vinegar, with onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt and pepper for a few minutes.
- Remove from the heat and leave to marinate for 24 hours. Serve as a condiment;
- Pierce the skin of whole bananas with a fork and put them in an oven set at 200°C (400°F) for fifteen minutes. Serve with a sauce of melted butter and lemon juice, a coulis
- fruit or any other sauce of your choice. Or split peeled bananas in half and bake them in the oven. Serve with meat, garnished with roasted peanuts.
