Banana Chickpea Curry

So for our first post I thought I would write about a recipe we made together and I think we talked about making a food blog while we were doing that. So yeah this is totally appropriate as a first post. I really wanted to cook something with bananas and so we searched the internet.

You know what there’s a lot of? Banana desserts. Know what there’s not a lot of? Banana entrees.

So we thought real hard and decided that bananas would be awesome in a curry. Other people thought that was a good idea too but their recipes were all too complicated. We came up with some ingredients to use and away we went. It was good!

Ingredients!

2 tablespoons canola oil or some other oil for sauteing

3 shallots, chopped or diced or something

1 bell pepper, chopped

1/2 stalk lemon grass, chopped

2 bananas, unripened and sliced

1 15 oz. can of chickpeas

1 however-many oz. can of coconut milk

2 tablespoons curry paste (we used red but that’s because it’s all we had – green might be better)

Directions!

This is how Ellen did it. I watched. And waited…

So heat the oil in a big pan or skillet. Let it heat up good and then drop in your shallots, bell pepper, and lemon grass. Let it sizzle and smell good until it turns soft and your shallots are translucentish.

Now you should add in the chickpeas and the bananas. Let them heat up and brown up. I don’t know if our bananas actually browned, but they should have. Okay, forget the browning.

Now dump in the coconut milk and the curry paste. Stir it up until it changes into a color. Let it bubble for awhile. Make sure your vegetables are soft. Poke them!

Okay, I think it’s done. You should serve it over rice or maybe some noodles. Eat! Not bad for people who have no idea how to make curry, right?

Bret’s Notes!

So here’s what I would do differently if I was doing it again: I would have put the chickpeas in at the very beginning so they would have browned. I also would have put in the whole stalk of lemon grass and maybe I would have put it in with the coconut milk. Maybe I’m making this up, but I feel like the flavor of the lemon grass would saturate the curry better that way.

Two additions I would make are some Thai basil. It was super-good, but it lacked something. I think that something was Thai basil. Ellen thinks I’m wrong. I think her butt is wrong. Ooh. I would also add a Thai chili pepper or two because I like spicy things. If you don’t like spicy things don’t do that. Eat something safe instead like bread. Or porridge.

Also: I like cooking with Ellen!

Ellen’s Notes!

I did some lemongrass research.  To bring the flavor out more, I think we should have sliced it and then mooshed it in a food processor for a couple of seconds.  And then it could be added to the coconut milk!  Something about bruising the stalks brings out more of the lemony flavor, or so’s the word on the streets.  There’s a stalk and a half of lemongrass left.  I will try it and report back!

Bret might not be wrong about the Thai basil.  I do, however, dig on cilantro quite a bit and it would probably be quite tasty either added at the last minute or used as a garnish.  I am right there with him on the Thai chili peppers.  The cayenne added enough heat, but the peppers would add heat and tastiness.

I am fairly sure that Bret and I are awesome.  For only having a vague idea of what makes a curry, the result was curry-ish enough to fool me into thinking we knew what we were doing.

I like cooking with Bret too!