Gone Bananas

Bananas add a brightness to the winter vegetable and fruit selection. In this month's edition of Fine Cooking magazine there was an article on bananas. They did a great job presenting how to use bananas at different stages of ripeness and offered several different types of recipes using bananas. This really had me going.

Fabulous T gave me some perfectly ripen plantains, and I couldn't wait to get home and make something yummy out of it. Something sweet but savory; bright but warming. Inspired by the article in Fine Cooking, I decided I wanted to make a plantain curry.

I started my base by reducing 2 cups of chicken stock and 1.5 cups of thick coconut milk by half. Once the base was reduced I added a few cloves of garlic, a 6in stick of lemon grass, and a healthy tablespoon of minced ginger. I allowed the flavors to mellow out before adding 2lbs of cooked chicken. Then I began adding my curry spices. I had to restrain myself from dumping in all my usual curry spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, cardamon, fenugrek, coriander, tumeric, etc.)

I wanted to keep the bright asian flavors of the lemon grass and the ginger. I added a teaspoon of tumeric to bring out a rich yellow color, and restricted myself to only adding a bit of cardamon and ground coriander seed to the curry. The soup was super rich and savory from the chicken stock, so I brought it up a little bit with a pinch of cinnamon.

I added sliced plantains and waited. The flavors started melting together; the plantain helped harmonize all the different flavors in the pot. But something was missing. So much of the brightness lent from the lemon grass and ginger kept getting cooked away. I added a touch of minced orange habanero and it did the trick. It gave the curry a slight kick and brightness I was looking for.

I garnished the dish with chopped cilantro and crushed cashews and served it over brown rice. Healthy and delicious! The plantains had a nice firm texture to them, almost meaty, and not overly sweet.

Recipe: Makes 4-5 servings. Modified.

1 (14oz) can of thick coconut milk
1 (14oz) can of chicken broth (or at least a cup of water)
6 inch stick of lemon grass crushed
3 large cloves of garlic sliced
2-3 tspn minced garlic
2lb of cooked chicken
2 tspn ground tumeric
1 tspn ground coriander seed
1/2 tspn ground cardamon
1/2 tspn cinnamon (or cloves or allspice will work well)
2 ripe plantains (cut into 1 inch thick chunks)
1 habanero minced

1/4 cup cashews or peanuts chopped (for garnish)
1/4 cup cilantro chopped (for garnish)

1. In a heavy skillet add your liquids and bring to a boil. If using chicken stock allow the mixture to reduce by a quarter. (I let it reduce by half and ended up having to add water at the end. If using raw chicken I'd recommend adding the chicken at this point and allowing the liquid to simmer letting it simmer a little hot rather than at a rolling boil.)

2. Once the liquid is reduced add the spices and give it a good swirl. The liquid should turn yellow. If you'd like it yellower, add a bit more tumeric. Add the garlic, lemon grass and ginger allowing the flavors to to come together. Give it a few minutes and add your cooked chicken and plantains.

3. When the mixture is all heated and the chicken starts to fall apart slightly. Add the minced habanero. Give it a quick stir, and allow the curry to rest and thicken. Adjust the thickness by adding a little bit of water at a time.

4. Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro and cashews.