Thai dessert! Deep Fried Banana by Tina Ferrari

Thai dessert! Deep Fried Banana

This is a recipe I learned at the Basil Cookery School in Chiang Mai, Thailand. My advice: always make twice as many as you think you and your guests will be eating. These are so addicting that the recommended serving is never enough.

 

5 small bananas (or if you can only find large bananas, cut them in half)
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup rice flour*
1/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp sesame seeds*
1 tsp salt
1 cup cold water
4 cups vegetable oil

1. Peal and slice the bananas lengthwise (VERY important – lengthwise only! Otherwise the banana will curl when cooking). One banana could be sliced into 3-4 slices.

2. Mix rice flour, wheat flour, sugar, sesame seeds, salt and grated coconut together. Add water and stir thoroughly until the batter is mixed well.

3. Preheat the oil over medium heat in a deep pan or a wok. Dip the banana slices into the batter and then place them into the heated oil. Deep-fry until they are brown, and then transfer to a strainer to drain the oil. (Or in my case, I just put them onto a paper towel).

Delicious alone or with coconut ice cream if you can find it.

*I have omitted the sesame seeds before and it was really just fine without.
** Rice flour is easily found in Italy; I’ve found that a lot of supermarkets have a gluten-free section. Or ask at the pharmacy. Otherwise you can also find it at any Chinese grocery. If you can’t find it, I don’t see why you couldn’t just omit it and use only wheat flour. In the end it’s deep-fried so it will still be delicious!

Let the Voting Begin for Citrus Recipes

We have 13 entries this week and it is a hard decision but must be done.  Get too and vote for best in the 3 categories.

1. Blood Oranges, Avocado, Black Beans and Arugula Salad by Kim Vanzi

2. Citrus Beet Salad by Maureen Plotts Horvath

3. Tacle Mandarin Olive Oil Cake with Candied Tacle Mandarins by Mary Leonardi-Cattolica Sansen

4. Tacle Mandarin Stir Fried Beef and with Snow Peas by Mary Leonardi-Cattolica Sansen

5. Grand Marnier and Orange Chiffon Pie by Sarah Topps

6. Orange Risotto with Prawns and Feta by Jo Williams

7. Gi’s Lemony Tonic

8. Lemony Olive Oil Banana Bread Cooked by Dwight Stanford

9. LEMON ICE CREAM by Marta Blay

10. Turkey Cutlets in a Spicy Orange Sauce by Marla Gulley Roncaglia

11. Duck Spring Rolls by Amber

12. Chocolate Orange Brownies by Cheryl O’Bryan

13. Citrus Lovers Dessert Tart by Kim Vanzi

Chocolate Orange Brownies by Cheryl O’Bryan

Ok, so I don’t have time to bake what I planned for the competition but here’s a recipe I posted back in July last year that I will enter for the competition. So easy and so tasty!

Chocolate Orange Brownies
Delicious, quick and very easy!
Makes 16

3 eggs
100ml vegetable oil
2 Oranges
200g sugar
100g wholemeal flour
10g baking powder
60g oatmeal
60g Cocoa powder

Beat the eggs with the oil. Add rind and juice of both oranges. Mix in sugar, flour, oatmeal, cocoa and baking powder. Stir to combine. (Add nuts or choc chips if desired at this point.) Place mixture into a greased tin about 6x9inches and bake in oven at 160 C for about 20 minutes or until top is baked and crispy but middle is still a little squidgy. (It will continue to cook as it cools.) When cool sprinkle with caster sugar or dust with icing sugar/cocoa. YUMMY!!

Turkey Cutlets in a Spicy Orange Sauce by Marla Gulley Roncaglia

Here’s an easy peasy citrus recipe, if there is still time to tuck this one onto the contest.

Turkey Cutlets in a Spicy Orange Sauce

Yields 4 cutlets

Ingredients:

 

4 medium pieces of turkey, chicken or beef cutlets

4 slices of speck , or smoked ham

White flour to dust cutlets

1-2 garlic cloves, sliced in half

2T- ¼ c (24-50g) olive oil

1 T Cointreau or white wine if you like

1/2 -3/4c (118 ml) orange juice or juice of 2 blood oranges

1 T hot pepper jelly*, add more if you want it hotter or add some dry hot pepper

S&P

 

Method:

 

Cut your turkey or chicken pieces into slices or use already prepared cutlets

Flatten Turkey pieces with a mallet or meat mallet to flatten and tenderize.

Lay one piece of Speck or smoked ham and fold the turkey cutlet and ham over in half.

Heat a sauté pan or skillet large enough to hold the 4 cutlets.

Lightly salt and pepper each cutlet and then dredge the cutlets in some white flour to coat.

Place the garlic clove halves in the pan with a generous amount of olive oil and begin to sauté the cutlets over a medium heat turning once when the edges begin to show a bit of color.

Remove the cutlets and set aside, keeping them warm.

Turn up the heat slightly, add the Cointreau to deglaze the pan. Once the alcohol evaporates, add the orange juice lifting all the pan juices till incorporated. Add the cutlets, turning if necessary to cover with sauce simmer gently till the liquid had reduced and slightly thickened.

Remove cutlets and serve topped with your pan sauce.

* I used my home made pepper jelly.

 

Even Nigella is getting stuck

Even Nigella is getting stuck in with our ‘citrus’ contest!

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/little-lemon-puddings

Thanks Maureen for finding this delicious sounding recipe.

LEMON ICE CREAM by Marta Blay

 

Ingredients:- 250 ml of Lemon Juice.- 200 grams of Sugar.- 250 ml of Water.- 2 Egg Whites.
Preparation: Empty the lemons. Make lemon juice and strain. Put the water and syrup in a saucepan and let it boil without stirring for 3 minutes. Cool down. Mix the lemon juice and syrup. Introduce the mixture into the freezer.
When the mixture is about to freeze, assemble the egg whites and mix. Freeze the mixture again and whenwhen it has the consistency, fill out the lemons and freeze. Put the lids. Serve cold.

Lemony Olive Oil Banana Bread Cooked by Dwight Stanford

I made this for my guests.  Sorry, but this one is from the internet, instead of inventing it.  But the picture is mine.
Banana/Citrus entry from Ascoli Piceno

Lemony Olive Oil Banana Bread Recipe – 101 Cookbooks   from     www.101cookbooks.com

Gi’s Lemony Tonic

Take a really healthy glug of gin, add tonic, ice and LOTS of lemon.

Well, should be lime, but I don’t have any right now!!

 

Orange Risotto with Prawns and Feta by Jo Williams

Ok. Looks messy…I meant to take a photo of the risotto on its own and forgot. So basically orange risotto with prawns and feta.

For 2 people:
half a mug of rice
prawns (as many as you want)
2 oranges
some butter
a big piece of onion
dash of white wine
veg stock.

Put oil and a teaspoon of butter in frying pan and add a large piece of onion for a min. Add the rice for 2 mins and then the wine. Add the prawns and slowly add the veg stock and juice of 1 orange until rice is cooked and then fold in the cleaned pieces of the other orange, feta, teaspoon of butter and salt and pepper. Recipe doesn’t need the feta or the feta can be substituted for Parmesan, goat’s cheese, blue cheese etc etc

Grand Marnier and Orange Chiffon Pie by Sarah Topps

From one of my old cook books “New Creative Cusine’
Photo from book, but hoping to take my own by the weekend as unable to shop for ingredients at the minute!

It was always a winner at wedding or birthday parties and is more creamy, delicious and light than a cheesecake. The crunchy nut crust is a slightly different variation of a plain cheesecake base too:

Grand Marnier and Orange Chiffon Pie

For the crust:
125g sweet biscuit crumbs
75g melted butter
2 tbsp runny honey
50g chopped walnuts
1 tsp finely grated orange rind

For the filling:
3 eggs, separated
1 tsp cornflour
90g castor sugar
1 tsp finely grated orange rind
125ml fresh orange juice
2 tsp powdered gelatine
5 tsp cold water
3 tbsp Grand Marnier or orange liqueur
125ml whipping cream

1. Mix all the ingredients for the crust together and warm gently in a pan on the stove for 3 minutes.
2. Press onto the base of a greased 8 to 9″ round spring-form tin.
3. Place in the fridge to chill.
4. Beat the egg yolks, cornflour, castor sugar and orange rind.
5. Soak the gelatine in cold water.
6. Cook the egg yolk mixture over a double boiler, stirring constantly until it thickens like custard.
7. Remove from the heat and add the Grand Marnier.
8. Add the softened gelatine and stir in. Leave to cool and thicken slightly.
9. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt and then fold into the orange mixture with the whipped cream.
10. Pour over the chilled base and leave to set in the fridge.
11. Once set, decorate with chopped walnuts and cream.