Last week, I was sitting in a product meeting at work. Our CTO was eating a banana and as he set the peel down on the table it struck me that it would make the perfect vessel to hold food. Since then I’ve been mulling over all the different ways one could cook food in a piece of the fruit that’s come to symbolize rubbish.
I began to fantasize about fork tender hunks for moist pork surrounded by rice infused with the flavors of banana and the savory pork. Over the following week I decided that a Cuban mojo would make a fine marinade (although I’d considered using a tamarind based marinade).
My biggest concern was that the astringent taste of the peel would ruin the contents. Upon doing some research I found that banana peels are used in some regions of India to make chutney. I also learned that there are some nasty pesticides used on bananas so I decided it would be best to use organic bananas. Beyond that I found nary a reference to cooking with banana peels.
My first inclination was to roast them at a low temperature, but after thinking about it for a bit, I realized that the dry heat would make it take a lot longer to make the meat tender. I was also thinking that it could potentially render the rice inedible. In the end, I decided to steam the bundles.
As with most things one fantasizes about for days on end, this didn’t quite live up to the high expectations I had, but that’s not to say it wasn’t good. As expected, it had a fairly strong banana flavor, so if you don’t like bananas, this might not be for you. The meat came out incredibly moist and tender and the rice was cooked perfectly, soaking up the flavors of the peel along with the juices from the pork.
The next time I do this, I’m going to try serving it with a salsa… maybe a mango coconut celery salsa.
Mojo
1/2 C sour orange juice (or 1/4 C orange juice + 1/4 C lemon juice)
1 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic pressed
1 1/2 tsp oregano
minced fresh cilantro
1 tsp kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper1 lbs boneless country style pork ribs (or other well marbled cut)
1 cup long grain rice
5 large organic bananaskitchen twine
The night before you want to eat these, make the mojo in a large ziplock bag. Cut the pork up into cubes that will fit into a banana peel and add to the mojo. Squeeze out as much air as you can, seal then put in the fridge. Put the rice in a bowl and cover with salted water (should be saltier than soup but not as salty as the sea) and put it in the fridge.
To prep the stuffed bananas, cut a slit down the inside of the curved part of the banana from top to bottom. Open up the banana and gently remove the insides, setting aside for another use. Drain the rice and stuff each banana peel with rice and meat making sure not to overstuff them. Using some kitchen twine, tie the banana back together like you would tie a roast about 1.5 inches apart.
Get your steamer ready and place the bananas in it cut side up. Place a piece of foil over the pot then cover with the lid making sure to get a good seal. Steam for 1 hour. Remove the twine and serve.
Note: The peel, while edible (tasted a bit like artichoke) wasn’t my cup of tea so I skipped it.
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what a beautiful dish! It looks amazing!
Very cool concept! I would have never thought of doing that, but it is genius! Great recipe!
wow! how cool is that? banana flavoured rice, even better than rice served or wrapped in a banana leaf. this is one cool dish. x
to say that this is brilliant would be an understatement. i’m madly impressed by your creativity and execution–nicely done!
It certainly looks great! Well done on making banana peel look attractive
I LOVE mulling over ideas for recipes, and this one sounds surprisingly alluring…
Great idea! This reminds me of the bamboo steamed rice dishes we had in China. I can’t wait to give your version a try.
How interesting! We think of banana leaves, but not the peels. Maybe I’ll give this a shot with somethign seitan-y.
I love this idea! Makes the dish look so pretty! Very creative!
What a brilliant idea!
Marc, you are brilliant.
Who knew bananas were into S+M!? Kidding! Couldn’t resist after the first pic! This looks so tasty!
Steaming rice and tasty pork in a banana peal sound like fun. I really like the sound of rice infused with the flavour of banana! Nice and creative!
damn fine blog you got here
wow
i’ll be reading…
LOVE this crazy idea
totally cool
This is a very interesting presentation! Usually, the banana peels end up in the compost bin around here.
I have to say that is one of the most interesting recipes I’ve seen in a while. Thanks for sharing that, it’s cool.
Very nice. While I was reading I started thinking about what I’d stuff the banana with. I think it would be interesting to do a masa filling or even mashed yucca. Steaming was definitely the way to go. You could even pre-cook some the rice and meat half way and then stuff and steam. That may cut down on a bit of the strong banana taste. But very creative. It’s like forget the banana leaf when you can stuff the actual banana. Maybe a desert would be cool? you know how the Puerto Ricans do the platanos (ripe plantian) and they basically fry it up w/ butter and some liquor? You could even mash banana in there. Now, i’m losing steam but the possibilities are endless!
Thanks Lina, Stephanie and Diva!
Grace, you flatter me, but this was really just a by product of office boredom.
Laura, I was actually surprised at how yellow it turned out. I just assumed it would turn brown like they do when you put them in the fridge.
jfolkman I love those bamboo and lotus wrapped rice packets.
Lauren, seitan in the veggie-duck form might be quite tasty!
Thanks Tarah, chiffonade, Deborah, and Syrie!
Cakespy, that’s exactly what I was thinking as I tied them up! Kidding;-P
Thanks Kevin.
Claudia, I have crazy ideas often, judging by the response to this post (record number of comments), I’ll have to post more of them:-)
Susan… what can I say. I guess I was never one to color within the lines;-)
noble pig, it’s definitely one of the weirder things to pop into my head as of late.
“we are never full”, great ideas! I was actually thinking about doing a dessert version of this (maybe with sticky rice rehydrated in coconut milk and sugar). Maybe a banana pudding? Or kumquats stuffed inside strawberries stuffed inside a banana, stuffed inside…… well you get the idea;-)
Now that’s what I call imagination! I’m bookmarking this and just one day I will certainly come back to it. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi, I’m italian and since I lived in different country I like recipes from all world, expecially this one: I think it has something really creative, I will try to prepare it hoping to discover a new taste!
wahaha that’s super creative!