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Hi everyone!
I am starting to battle to come up with
Newsletter themes, while thinking about what to use as the theme for this
newsletter I was munching on a banana, and hey, Presto, that is going to
be my theme!
Grown in tropical and sub-tropical humid regions, bananas are picked
green and ripened in ripening rooms where the ripening process is
stimulated. The good thing about bananas, at least in South Africa, is
that they are available all year round. A tip, do not store bananas in a
refrigerator, but leave them at room temperature, otherwise the skins will
turn black due to cold damage. I had fun finding banana recipes for the
newsletter and then realised that bananas are very versatile and can be
used in many dishes, so scroll down and get busy in the kitchen!
The moment I thought of banana, banana
fridge tart and banana bread came into my head, my favourite banana
recipes.
Now for something quite different! If you
would like to meet some very nice Afrikaans speaking people, I have just
the thing for you! I am member of a fantastic Yahoo Group called
Netvriende. We communicate in Afrikaans and would welcome new members.
If you would like to meet some interesting people and have some great
discussions on every topic imaginable,
click
here and go to the Yahoo site and join up! You can be assured
of a hearty welcome!
On the subject of Afrikaans, if you would
like to read some really good Afrikaans articles written by Minette Brink,
of the Republikein, a Namibian Afrikaans daily, just click
here! If you like her
writing style, please email her and let her know! I would like to convince
her that her articles are actually read and enjoyed on my site :-) She
kindly lets me have some of her articles to put on my site for which I am
very grateful.
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Thanks to everyone who has mailed us fridge magnets depicting your
State, City or Country. If you collect fridge magnets, I will mail you
a South African one for every one I receive from another country.
Please
email
me and we can make arrangements. Thanx a lot! |
My website is interactive, there are a few
pages you can contribute to:
Elephant Stew - add
your suggestion
Wacky Sarmies - add your
fav sarmie (some great sarmie ideas here!)
Animal Facts - Give
your opinion on the
the ram/ewe/bull/cow controversy, solve the puzzle and add your caption to the lion pic.
Discussion Forum - Add to a current discussion or start a new thread.
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Why not post a message on the
Discussion Forum. The topic can be food, wildlife, travel or
photography related, or anything else of interest. Let's see if we can
get some interesting discussions going |
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Banana and caramel bread pudding
12 thick slices of stale raisin bread
250 ml caramel condensed milk
3 bananas, sliced into rounds
4 eggs, beaten
1 litre milk
Preheat oven to 180 °C.
Spread the 6 slices of bread with caramel condensed milk.
Layer the banana slices on top.
Cover with the remaining slices to make a sandwich.
Cut off the crusts and cut into triangles.
Butter a large ovenproof dish and arrange the bread in the dish.
Mix the eggs and milk together, pour over the bread and allow to stand for
30 minutes.
Bake for 40 minutes until the custard is just firm.
Serve warm with thick cream.
Bacon-and-banana fritters
250 g rindless streaky bacon
125 g self-raising flour
2 ml salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
150 ml milk
3 small bananas, peeled
10 ml sunflower oil
20 ml butter
Grill bacon until crisp, remove from the pan and drain on absorbent paper.
Chop half of the bacon roughly. Mix together the flour and salt in a bowl.
Make a well in the centre and add the egg and half the milk. Stir in the
flour from the sides of the well, until the mixture is smooth. Add remaining
milk and stir well. Chop 1 of the bananas into small cubes and add to the
batter, along with the chopped bacon. Season to taste with freshly ground
black pepper. Heat the oil in a large pan and drop spoonfuls of the batter
into the pan. Fry over medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Set
aside and keep warm. Cut the remaining bananas diagonally into thick slices.
Heat the butter in a clean pan and fry the banana slices until browned.
Serve fritters with fried banana slices and remaining bacon strips. Serves
4.
Banana bread
125 g butter or margarine
200 g sugar
2 eggs
2 ml vanilla essence
250 ml mashed bananas
240 g cake flour
2 salt
10 ml baking powder
2 ml bicarbonate of soda
125 ml milk
Preheat oven to 180 ºC. Grease a 250 mm loaf tin and line base with
greaseproof paper. 1. Cream butter, then add sugar, beating until pale and
fluffy. 2. Add eggs, beating well after each addition. 3. Stir in vanilla
essence. Mix bananas into creamed mixture. 4. Sift in flour, salt and baking
powder. Blend bicarbonate of soda with a little milk and add. Gradually add
remaining milk and beat well. 5. Pour into tin, and bake for about 1 hour.
Cool in tin for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Makes 1 loaf.
Banana and date chutney
2 large onions, sliced into rings
500 g stoned dates, finely chopped
16 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced into rings
350 g ginger pieces in syrup, finely chopped
15 ml salt
20 ml pickling spice, tied in muslin cloth
750 ml white grape vinegar
450 g maple or golden syrup
In a large saucepan, mix all the ingredients, except the maple syrup. Heat,
stirring continuously until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil
and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the muslin cloth and add the maple syrup.
Stir well, bring to the boil once more and simmer slowly for 20 minutes or
until the mixture has thickened and is no longer runny. Stir every now and
then to prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
Bottle chutney while still hot. Makes 2 litres of chutney.
Banana cream pie
CRUST
100 g desiccated coconut
60 g wheat brick breakfast cereal, broken into crumbs
30 ml honey
1 egg
60 ml cake flour
50 g butter
FILLING
50 g butter
750 ml milk
60 g cornflour
100 g sugar
3 egg yolks
3 large ripe bananas
150 ml cream
toasted flaked almonds, to decorate
1. CRUST: Mix coconut, cereal crumbs, honey, egg, flour and butter. Pat
mixture on to base and sides of a pie dish to line evenly. 2. Bake pie shell
in a preheated oven at 150 °C for 15 minutes, until golden. Cool.
3. FILLING: Combine butter, milk, cornflour and sugar in a saucepan. Cook
over medium heat, stirring until mixture thickens. Boil for 1 minute. 4.
Remove from heat and stir in egg yolks. Heat through to thicken. 5. Peel 2
bananas and cut into slices about 5 mm thick. Line cooled pie shell with
slices of banana, then pour custard filling over bananas. 6. Cover and
refrigerate until cold. Whip the cream until stiff. Spread cream evenly over
custard. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. 7. Decorate with slices
of banana and toasted almonds just before serving
Banana fritters
4 large ripe bananas
sunflower oil for frying
MARINADE (optional)
60 ml sherry (sweet or dry)
2 lemons, strained juice
125 ml icing sugar
BATTER
125 ml cake flour
1 ml salt
1 large egg
125 ml flat beer
15 ml butter, melted
1 large egg white
1. BATTER: Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Whisk egg, add beer and melted
butter. Stir into flour mixture with a wooden spoon, then whisk lightly
until batter is smooth. 2. Cover bowl with a dish towel and leave batter at
room temperature for 1 hour, or until slightly foamy. 3. Place peeled and
sliced bananas in a bowl. Mix marinade ingredients together and pour over
bananas. Marinate for at least 15 minutes. 4. Just before using batter,
whisk egg white until it holds its shape. Fold into batter, using a metal
spoon or spatula. 5. Add banana slices to batter and mix lightly. Pour oil
(to 5 cm deep) in frying pan and heat until very hot (see tips). Drop a few
spoonfuls of batter at a time into heated oil and fry on both sides until
golden brown. Remove and drain on absorbent paper. Repeat for remaining
mixture. 6. Sprinkle fritters with icing sugar and serve hot, with ice cream
of your choice.
Banana muffins
120 g cake flour
130 g wholewheat flour
2 ml salt
15 ml baking powder
45 ml castor sugar
2 eggs
80 ml oil
80 ml water
3 ripe bananas
Preheat the oven to 180 ºC (375 ºF). Grease 2 muffin tins with margarine.
Sift the dry ingredients together (add the bran left over in the sieve).
Beat the eggs, oil and water together and add to the dry ingredients. Mash
the bananas and add to the dough. Mix thoroughly. Spoon the dough into the
prepared muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes for medium-sized muffins and
for 20 to 30 minutes for large muffins. Served with honey and cottage
cheese, the muffins are heavenly. Makes 14 large or 24 medium muffins
Buttermilk banana cake
CAKE
100 ml soft butter or margarine
250 ml white sugar
2 eggs, whisked
125 ml buttermilk
100 ml fresh milk
500 ml cake flour
5 ml baking powder
2 ml salt
5 ml bicarbonate of soda
5 ml vanilla essence
250 ml banana purée
ICING
45 ml icing sugar
250 g smooth cottage cheese
1 drop yellow food colouring
2 bananas, sliced
lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 180 ºC (350 ºF). Grease two 19 cm loose-bottomed cake
tins with butter or spray with non-stick spray. Cream the butter and sugar
together until light and fluffy. Add the buttermilk and fresh milk and mix.
Sift the cake flour, baking powder, salt and bicarbonate of soda together
and gradually add to the butter mixture. Mix well. Add the vanilla essence
and banana purée and mix well, but do not overmix. Turn the batter into the
two prepared tins and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a testing skewer comes
out clean when inserted into the centre of the cakes. Cool slightly in the
tin before turning our onto a wire rack to cool completely. Mix the icing
sugar and cottage cheese and add the food colouring. Spread half the icing
on one cake layer and over with the remaining cake layer. Cover the cake
with the remaining icing. Sprinkle the banana slices with lemon juice and
pile on top of the cake. Makes a medium-sized cake.
Caramel banana fridge tart
150 g Marie biscuits, crushed
125 ml butter, melted
380 g Nestlé Caramel Treat
3 large bananas
Spray a 19 cm pie dish with nonstick spray. Mix the biscuit crumbs and
butter and press the mixture into the prepared pie dish. Beat the caramel
condensed milk until smooth and spoon into the pie crust, spreading evenly.
Set aside. Dip the unpeeled bananas in boiling water to prevent
discolouration. Peel and slice thinly. Arrange the banana slices on top of
the caramel. Place the tart in the fridge to set. Serve cold. Makes a medium
tart.
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