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organic coconut palm sugar, grilled pineapple and banana, chilli and lime sorbet
December, and the quality of pineapples and bananas in local markets is great so this recipe went on a cooking class or three over the last month. It works really well with a few mango cheeks thrown in as a variation and is a perfect warm weather desert with a hint of savoury flavours (chili and black pepper).
If you don't have an ice cream machine just head to a decent gelati bar and get a lime sorbet or gelati. The rest of the recipe is a no-brainer so it's perfect for a Christmas Day desert; most of it's done over a chargrill, so fire up the BBQ.
Don't forget to be nice to orangutans, their habitats and the farmers in South East Asia at Christmas time; buy hand tapped, small batch, fair trade coconut nectar palm sugar. It costs a little bit more but the flavour is big and the impact small.
organic coconut palm sugar, grilled pineapple and banana, chili and lime sorbet
serves 6
sorbet
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
4 limes, juice and zest
2 big mild red chili seeded and brunoised
Combine sugar and water in saucepan, stir and cook over high heat until sugar is dissolved. Boil without stirring for 1 min. Remove from heat and set aside.
Grate the lime zest and set aside. Juice limes and stir into sugar syrup. Add zest and chili (for a hotter sorbet add the chilli to the sugar syrup at the start). Add extra water to make 3½ cups total. Transfer to an ice cream maker and churn until firm (according to machine instructions).
syrup
125 g Beach Organics traditional ground coconut palm sugar
50 ml dark rum
150 to 200 ml pineapple juice (from 1 pineapple; just chuck peeled fruit in food processor and strain)
pinch of coarse ground dry chilli flakes (seeded red chili)
4 star anise
2 pandan leaves tied in a knot (or a couple of vanilla beans scraped, or both!)
1 lime, juice and zest
Melt palm sugar in a fry pan with a touch of water. Bring to the boil, reduce slightly to a dark caramel and add some rum, pineapple juice, star anise, chilli flakes, and pandan leaves. Reduce to a syrupy consistency. Add lime juice and the zest.
pineapple and banana
½ baby pineapple, cut into long wedges along the poles, core removed
3 ripe lady finger banana, cut in half down the length
bamboo skewers soaked in water overnight
1/3 cup roasted crushed peanuts
5 sprigs of Vietnamese mint
2 kaffir lime leaf, chiffonade
2 big red chilli, julienne
coarse black pepper
Skewer pineapple and banana with bamboo skewers, brush with a little of the palm sugar syrup. Place on barbecue plate. Turn and cook until slightly burnt. Transfer to a plate, coat with remaining syrup and sprinkle with mint leaves, pepper, chilli, kaffir lime and peanuts. Serve with sorbet.
