Vietnamese Banana Tapioca Dessert: Chè Chuối
When I had work trips to New York, the business hotel was generally in the Jamaica neighborhood, and I would always aim to pick a restaurant from which I could order a side of fried plátanos maduros at least once during the trip. They're kind of a comfort food.
Plantains really have to ripen to be able to shine in all of their high sugar glory. Once, I was offered to try a Puerto Rican breakfast and was told that plantains were a staple food in that meal. Imagine my excitement when I found out that I was about to have a starchy, sugary, fried boost at 6 AM. I could skip coffee that day! Turns out that there are 2 types of plantains: plátanos maduros and plátanos verdes.
Plátanos verdes are green, unripe plantains and generally used for their starchy content. In the Puerto Rican breakfast, they were served as mofongo, in which the plantains are fried, then mashed with some garlic and pork cracklings. It was a hefty breakfast. The plantain taste was there, but there was definitely no sugar.
For this recipe, you really want your plantains to be ripe. Some people would define a ripe plantain as being mostly black with a little yellow, and still slightly firm to the touch. I will challenge their expert judgment and insist that plantains reach peak ripeness when they are completely black, with no sunshine spots. The peel should be easy to remove, and the plantain is slightly mushy at the surface but still firm enough at its core to hold its shape.
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| Infusing pandan leaves in the coconut water & coconut milk |
Ingredients:
2 plantains, ripe
1/3 cup small tapioca pearls*
2 pandan leaves, fresh or frozen, knotted and lightly bruised
2 1/2 cups coconut water or water
1/2 cup coconut milk**
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
Toppings:
3 tablespoons peanuts, toasted, crushed
1 1/2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
(Optional) 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, roasted
*Note: 1 cup dry tapioca pearls = ~2/12 cups cooked tapioca pearls. Add more tapioca pearls if you want your chè to be thicker in consistency.
**Note 2: Substitute with coconut cream for a richer chè.
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| Peanut-sugar mix! |
Preparation:
1. In a medium saucepan, simmer coconut water or water with the 2 pandan leaves for 20 minutes.
2. Soak tapioca pearls for 10-15 minutes in water, then drain. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 400F. Cut both ends off the plantains and bake for 15 mins.
4. Remove plantain peels and slice the plantains into chunks.
5. Once the pandan/coconut water finishes simmering, add the coconut milk, plantain chunks and tapioca pearls.
6. Simmer on low heat until the tapioca pearls swell up and become translucent.
7. In a small bowl, combine the toasted crushed peanuts, sugar, salt and sesame seeds if using.
8. Sprinkle on chè for each serving.
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