The Slapdash Cook

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This is my brand-new blog about cooking the slapdash way — substituting, omitting or adding things at will. Rather than repeat everything on my About page, I’m just gonna send you there to read all about my goals here. But in short, this is a chronicle of my adventures as a non-detail-oriented cook who’s found remarkable flexibility in most recipes. Do not be afraid to innovate, my friends.

Now, on to the cooking! For my first post, I took it a bit farther than I intended. Some back story: I dropped J. off at the airport yesterday, which meant two things: I’m cooking for one this weekend, and I missed my usual farmers’ market. I picked up some fresh fruit & veg at Trader Joe’s to fill the gap until I could get to one today. Since they don’t sell bananas at the farmers’ market, I picked up a couple of those, and I picked ‘em green because I like ‘em green. Sadly, I picked ‘em too green. Ever bite into an unripe banana? It’s like an underripe persimmon — mouth-drying and bitter. I bet there are tannins in there. Anyway, so there I was with a green banana that probably wasn’t going to ripen.

Rather than waste it, I did some Googling for green banana recipes. (It turns out that Africans use them like potatoes because potatoes are expensive there. Seems ironic from an American perspective.) The most interesting one I came up with is a dish from the south of India called [kache] kele ki sabzi, a curry involving green bananas and either coconut milk or yogurt, depending on your recipe. Unfortunately, it also seems to require curry leaves, which I do not have and know is not something that I can just find a substitution for. Solution: Abandon efforts to stick to the recipe and make something under Indian curry principals, but with different spices!

Quasi Kele Ki Sabzi for One

Ingredients:

One green banana

1/2 zucchini

1/2 skinny Asian eggplant

1/2 to one carrot

(any South Asia-appropriate veggies would be fine)

Juice of half a lime

chopped cliantro

Onions of any kind (I used green because I need to use ‘em up)

half a standard (13-ish ounces) can of light coconut milk; normal is fine

one clove garlic

about a tablespoon of grated fresh ginger (you can use powdered, but it’s a different flavor)

1 tsp to 1 tbsp chopped hot chili (I used a Thai birdseye chili) , or use cayenne or chili powder to taste

1 tsp curry powder of your choice

1/2 tbsp cumin seeds

pinch of fennel seeds (optional)

pinch of turmeric

1 tbsp oil

chopped cilantro for garnish (plus I used the green part of green onions too)

Optional: protein of your choice

Bring enough water to cover the green banana to a boil. While it’s heating, peel the thing, which may require a knife if it’s really underripe. Parboil with a pinch of turmeric until it’s soft. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, chop your veggies, grate your ginger and crush your garlic. Heat 1 tbsp oil over high heat and add the cumin and fennel seeds, then quickly cover the pan so they’ll pop without burning you. Once they’re done, lower heat to medium and saute onions until they look a little soft. (If you’re using the whites of green onions, just give ‘em a moment.) Add garlic, ginger and chili and saute for a minute or so. At this point, you should probably have the windows open.

Now it’s time to throw in all those chopped veggies along with the drained green banana (and any tofu you’re using). Cook them for however long it takes for the eggplant to be cooked through. Undercooked eggplant sucks. When that’s done, add curry powder and stir long enough to mix. (If I were using pre-baked tofu or tempeh or seitan, I’d put it in now.) When that’s done, add half a can of coconut milk, stir to mix, cover your pan and turn the heat pretty low so nothing burns, because you’re going to ignore it for ten minutes. Wash the dishes; read the newspaper. La la la! When the timer goes off, all you have to do is stir in the lime juice and sprinkle with the chopped cilantro for a garnish. You can skip the cilantro, but I highly recommend not skipping the lime juice because it’s a lovely contrast with the coconut milk. The end! Serve over rice.