Dear LPG,

I have to admit that after my last attempt at creating something nationally independent in the kitchen, even though there are many other more complicated dishes, I made a point of choosing what I thought would be a really simple recipe this month.  

I thought that this dessert from the Seychelles would be truly simple to make with only five easy to get ingredients but the devil, as they say, is in the detail. I ended up making two versions of this dish and, simple though it appeared, I really managed to go about it in the worst way possible the first time.

For my first mistake, I used truly ripe bananas; they really need to be ripe but not mushy.  Then I made things worse by using tinned coconut milk.  I truly panicked when I poured it out of the tin because it had separated and I thought it had gone off.  But having checked the sell-by date I realised that the secret is to shake it well before you open it, (or even better, make your own with a real coconut, a liquidiser and a sieve.  I did the second time.)  I have to say that I learnt the difference between coconut cream, coconut water and coconut milk along the way too.  (►►►).  Then there was the coconut cream.  You can buy it in a tin but I chose the solid version, which looks a bit like a packet of butter, and takes a lot longer to melt down.  And my final mistake was paying my saucepan a bit too much attention during the twenty minutes that it was on the simmer.  If you stir too much, especially if you chose less firm bananas in the first place, they go limp and that is not a good look. 

I need to say that my picture is of my second attempt.  Although the first batch tasted fine it looked terrible with its limp bits of banana and un-melted little bits of creamed coconut all over the place, in spite of the fact that I chose the easiest looking recipe I could follow. 

You will appreciate that I am not showing a picture of version one because the visual aesthetics were seriously lacking, although my taste-testers said that there was little difference if you eat with your eyes closed.  So, I suppose that the principle was always there. Overall, it got the thumbs up although I have my doubts about the opinion my version would have received from a true countryman of the Seychelles.

One last thing to note is the amount of sugar involved if you are diabetic

Well, I have done what I started out to do which was to cook for a year, but LPG has promised that they will continue to accommodate my dubious culinary efforts so I thought we might have a go at highlighting a Peruvian delight in celebration of their independence day on July 28^th.   My plan is to attempt one of their national dishes, Ceviche.  I hope that I can do it justice but all will be revealed tastefully at the end of next month.

CB, Lewisham

CB offers some variations on a Peruvian theme…

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