ISO: coconut milk batter to fry bananas in.

[Wendy DeBord]

I never make desserts ala minute- it's too hard to ask of the guys plating at night and I get inconsistant results. BUT my chef put, "Banana Fritters, deep fried coconut milk battered bananas, served with coconut gelato" on as one of our monthly specials. So I'm a little stumped as to how to make this fool proof and as simple as possible..........

Any advice and leads on recipes would be auesome.

[metropastrykid]

i would find a basic batter recipe, and substitute coconut milk for the milk in the recipe. you could either batter them, fry them before service, then on the pickup throw them in the oven to re-heat, or you could purchase a small tabletop fryer. sometimes called a frydaddy, or fry all. available at smiths, or walmart, anywhere really. i would suggest the second, so that they're as fresh as possible.

mathew

[Redsugar]

I'm quite sure that canned Cream of Coconut would be a successful ingredient in the batter (flour, baking powder, eggs, water). And I might prefer making a Coconut-Mango Sorbet for better visual impact, as well as a brighter tropical palate on the plated dessert. Lime juice ought to be in there somewhere, too.

A trial batch:

Sift together 1 cup flour, 2 Tb baking powder, 1¼ tsps salt, ¼ cup sugar, a well-beaten egg, about 1/3 cup coconut cream, 2 tsps oil. Stir until the batter is thick & smooth. Fry the sliced coated bananas until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Edited August 30, 2004 by Redsugar (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

Thank-you Redsugar, I'll give your recipe a try first thing tommarrow.

I don't know much about these.........but I know the hot side uses purchased batter mixes for somethings (heck I can't even think of what they use it on-but I know they have some on hand). Anyone familar with that/these batters? If so, can I doctor up a purchased batter with a little sugar and seasoning and make it work in this situation? Ideally I'd like to keep the batter in the refridg. all day.......maybe even for 2 days: have them dip in batter, probably roll in coconut or something else-then fry and serve.

[Redsugar]

Wendy: Coconut cream is, of course, available in tins. But if you prefer to make your own, it's quite easy....

Place 2 cups whole milk & 2 cups desiccated, unsweetened coconut (OR grated meat of 2 fresh coconuts) in the top of a double boiler. Bring to a simmer and set over barely simmering water and cook for 45-60 minutes. Chill and lift cream off the coconut meat. Place coconut meat in a cloth and wring out any remaining liquid and add to the cream. Discard coconut.

Mango Sorbet is lovely served in Vanilla Tulipes. Or accompanied by coconut shortbread cookies. Stepping further in one's imagination, how about serving Ile Flottante in a pool of coconut-cream custard sauce? Or on a Chilled Strawberry-Banana "Soup." Fabulous!

Also, during winter, Banana Fritters could be served w/ a well-chilled Orange Custard (made w/ liquid fructose) that had been baked in those 1/2-cup oval molds, then sprinkled w/ toasted coconut. Otherwise, you could flip things around and prepare a Cold Banana Soufflé (using Mandarine Napoleon) spooned into Coconut Tuiles with a Burnt-Orange Sauce coating the bananas à la Bananas Foster.

I have made a Coconut-Cream Custard and served it w/ Lemon Pound Cake topped w/ Mango Sauce. Here are the custard steps:

Lightly brush six 4-oz. ramekins with oil. Whip 3 eggs till frothy; add 2 Tbsp sugar, whip to light, fluffy consistency. Sprinkle 1 tsp gelatin on top, alllow to soften, then whisk in until incorporated.

Bring to simmer over med-high flame: 4 fl.oz. heavy cream and 4 fl.oz. sweetened coconut cream (okay, I used Coco Lopez brand). Slowly pour into egg mixture, stirring constantly. Cook over med. flame, stirring constantly, and cook as per regular custard base.

Immediately stir over ice till cool. Mix in ¾ fl.oz. dark rum. Beat 4 fl.oz heavy cream until fairly stiff, then fold it into custard. Divide amongst the ramekins. Refrigerate at least 6 hrs.

Enjoy!

[Drewman]

Two suggestions:

1) Try a box of tempura mix and use 1/2 water and 1/2 coconut milk and fry them to order.

2)The only way I can think of to work more in advance is to have your staff cut the bananas into thirds, soak them in coconut milk, roll in sugar (or cinnamon and sugar) and wrap them in fueille de brick pastry that's been brushed with egg so it keeps shape and then fry them to order. That way during the dinner rush, they won't have to batter dip them, they can just drop them in the fryer.

[nightscotsman]

Here's a dessert I developed for a mystery basket challenge in school - caramelized pineapple, banana fritters and passion fruit sherbet:

The fritter batter was very simple:

2-1/2 cups AP flour

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp baking powder

2 cups cold water (you could sub all or half coconut milk here if you like, though it might make the coating a little heavier)

2 cups unsweetened dried coconut

combine flour sugar and baking powder. whisk in water until smooth. dip bananas to coat lightly and roll in coconut. fry in 350 degree oil until golden brown. drain on paper towels.

These came out very good with a light, crispy coating and creamy banana inside. The insides stay very hot quite a while, so you may want to warn your customers. The batter should keep for at least a day in the cooler.

The acid from the pineapple and passion fruit was a perfect compliment to the bananas, so you may want to introduce a fruit sauce of some kind to go along with the coconut gelato in your dessert. It would help cut the rich-creaminess of the whole.

[Redsugar]

A valuable recommendation re Feuille de Brick. It is a versatile dough that makes an excellect alternative to phyllo dough, even crèpe dough. The elasticity of brick pastry helps it to stay intact better (thus it’s superior for sealing in the flavour of its contents) than phyllo. I suspect phyllo could be used for the purpose under discussion, although doubling the leaves would be advisable. I’ve only used feuille de brick to bake a croustillant of pears.

Interestingly, and not too foreign to this topic, I once had a dessert of pineapple in spring rolls w/ rum ice cream.

Some further inspiration for the banana-fritter combinations may come from the Cambodian dessert known as as Kuay Namuan – for which bananas are poached in sweetented coconut milk until barely softened. Also, Filipinos make a simple, sorbet-like coconut ice called buko. Possibly worth looking up its method of preparation.

Edited August 31, 2004 by Redsugar (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

Thank-you Neil, that looks fabulous! I do like your flavor combo and the others suggested.....I agree completely- coconut bananas and coconut gelato needs further embelishment.

I think I'm going to layer the gelato between two tuiles so the guys don't have to scoop, just reach in and grab. This should be interesting because I've wanted to do more advanced plating and haven't because I worry about burdening the line.........I'm interested to see how they react.

I also like the idea of using a 'wrapper' so I have the burden of making these and all they do is fry. If this works out I'll be able to do similar items down the road.

Thank-you all.