Bananas in Coconut Sauce (Thailand)
Glooay Booat Chay (gloo-eh bow-At chee)
Serves 4-6
Thai cuisine features many sweets, but they are usually eaten as snacks between meals, rather than being served at the end of a meal. The usual end to a Thai meal is a beautifully arranged platter of fresh fruit.
Heat in saucepan:
3/4 c. coconut milk (175 ml)*
Add:
2 teaspoons sugar (10 ml)
pinch of salt
Bring this to a boil and simmer two minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
Stir in:
3 large moderately ripe bananas, peeled and cut into ½-inch diagonal slices (1 cm)
Return to a boil for 10 seconds. Serve alone or as a topping for ice cream or sweetened rice. Best to serve immediately so that bananas do not get discolored.
* You can make coconut milk by combining the meat from one fresh coconut, cut into chunks, with 3 c. (750 ml) hot but not quite boiling water in a blender. Blend two to three minutes. Let stand for twenty minutes. Strain in a cloth, squeezing all the liquid from the coconut. Use immediately or keep in the refrigerator for up to four days. If you do not have a blender, you can grate the coconut by hand and pour the boiling water over it. You can purchase canned coconut milk, or even find coconut milk powder in some "gourmet" stores, but do not confuse this with coconut cream. If you cannot find coconut, you can replace the coconut milk with regular milk and 2 T. (30 ml) of grated coconut, dry or frozen.
Recipe from Extending the Table: a world community cookbook by Joetta Handrich Schlabach, Herald Press, 1991, p. 295. |