In early afternoon, unexpected rain pounded down onto Rosslea, leaving dark, moist soil, damp pavement, and curbside strips of water in its wake. I walked after the rain ceased, sucking in lungfuls of rich, moist air and the clean menthol scent of eucalyptus leaves. Bundles of grey-blue clouds lay rumpled across the sky, and a coy wind frisked and teased. Bush stone-curlews stood hunched or rested on the golf course lawns, perhaps weary from wailing mournfully into the night. Brown underlay the green of the golf course, and seed pods hung from street trees like green sausages and puckered beans. Sulphur-crested cockatoos fed on plump, green fruits hanging from the orange-flowering shrub that has nourished flocks of blue-faced honeyeaters for months and still bears scattered blossoms.
The seasons are a-changing. The lush green that followed the onset of the Wet has begun to fade. Young birds abound. On Sunday, I spotted an immature eastern koel or rainbird clinging to an overhead wire, its posture hunched, its barred plumage messy. Yesterday, a young blue-faced honeyeater squawked loudly from our yard, the pale green skin on the sides of its face (distinctive of the immature bird) shading into adult blue.
On my return to the house, I immersed myself in cooking bananas as something other than dessert. I had, while researching the Australian banana industry for last Thursday’s post, come across a variety of banana recipes published online by the Australian Banana Growers’ Council.1 (See the ABGC website at http://www.abgc.org.au/?recipes/recipes.) The recipes included banana soufflé, banana waldorf, banana blueberry cake and banana health loaf, banana passionfruit crumble, stewed orange banana with pork, Thai banana salsa with king prawns, and banana curry. Never one to walk away from a new cooking challenge, I decided to try one of the main course recipes and opted for banana curry. The recipe incorporated an entire suite of flavours – curry, banana, onion, eggplant, chicken, coconut, beans, and basil – that somehow melded into one exotic, creamy, tangy whole. I adjusted the recipe very slightly, and have included my version of it below.
This is what to do: Peel and chop a medium-size eggplant into cubes. Slice some green beans – a cup or two – into inch-long pieces. Put those veggies together and set them aside. Juice two fresh limes and set the juice aside. Chop or slice an onion, depending on which shape you prefer, and slice 4 medium bananas into chunky slices. Put the onion and bananas in separate bowls and set them aside. Then, take a couple of large chicken breasts, cut them into strips or chunks, and set the meat aside to await cooking.
Now, on to the cooking: Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over high heat. Add to it half a tablespoon or more of red curry paste, depending on your depth of love for curry, and all of the banana slices. Gently turn the banana pieces until they’re coated with paste, and then remove them from the pan and put them in a bowl. Pour the lime juice over the curry-coated bananas and turn them gently to coat them with juice.
Next, add another half tablespoon or more of red curry paste to the pan, along with all the onion bits and another tablespoon of olive oil. Cook the onions at a high temperature until they’re tender, and then add the chicken bits and cook them until they’re lightly browned. You may need to add a tich more oil to keep the meat from sticking to the pan. Once the meat is browned, stir the bean pieces and eggplant chunks into the meat/onion/curry mixture. Add about a half cup of water, and simmer the meat and veggies uncovered for 10-12 minutes at medium heat, until the chicken and eggplant are tender and the beans are tender-crisp.
Then pour a cup of coconut cream (dilute it, if you prefer a lighter taste) onto the chicken and veggies and simmer on low heat for a few minutes until the liquid is thickened. Gently stir the curried and limed banana chunks into the mix (these ended up being my favourite part of the curry). Continue cooking only until the bananas are warm. Sprinkle fresh or dried basil in whatever quanitity you like over the banana curry. Serve the curry over rice or whatever else you wish. I deep-fried bean vermicelli into crunchy cakes and served the curry over them.
To complete the main course, I served a tossed green salad of lettuce, purple onion, tomato, cucumber, and red pepper. Vilis concocted a dessert salad of pineapple, pear, orange, banana, dragonfruit, and rambutan. Both salads provided clear, clean contrasts to the curry, which, with its diverse textures and combination of rich and tangy flavours, was definitely a taste sensation. Try it!
Reference:
1. Australian Banana Growers’ Council. Recipes. Accessed 11-May-2010. http://www.abgc.org.au/?recipes/recipes
