This is an idea that came to mind which I guess is inspired from both the Fruit Granita and the ever so known Sharjah Shake, which I happened to buy as take away and then accidentally left in the freezer overnight… 🙂 It was indeed a hunch based on those experiences, but ended up working like a charm… However, I must point out here that even though the idea came up in my mind, after googling a bit about it, I found out that this is not really an original recipe… It just happened to be a coincidence that I came up with the exact same thing… 🙂
So, here goes… Basically this is an ice cream like frozen dessert but made almost entirely with sweet bananas… For some reason, when done right, it gives you the texture and creaminess of the ice cream but being very healthy at the same time because essentially you are eating frozen fruit ie, the banana… Since the taste of milk is essential for an ice cream, this recipe has some milk, but at the minimum level… The result is as shown in the pics below:
For this recipe you’ll need the following:
- Bananas – 3 in rip condition (for this one I used Ripe Plantains i.e. the one we call “Ethapazham” or “Nendrapazham” in Malayalam)…
- Milk – 1/5 of a cup (basically meant less than a quarter cup)… I guess if you want it to be richer and creamier, go for cream itself instead… [You can go for condensed milk as well in which case you won’t need any additional sugar/sweetner] 🙂
- Vanilla Extract – 1/2 teaspoon (the one I have here is not that concentrated… I would suggest you go by taste)
- Sugar – to taste if needed… I ended up using a couple of teaspoons of Sugarfree Natura powder as I intended to let my grandma have some of it 🙂
So, heres how you do this:
- Peel and roughly chop the bananas and keep in freezer overnight or until frozen solid (like a rock essentially)
- Add the frozen bananas, the milk, vanilla extract in a blender and blend till you get a smooth paste out of it…
- Check the taste and add the sugar/sweetener if needed… Same goes for the vanilla extract…
- Transfer the whole mixture into a tray and put it back in the freezer for about 2-3 hours or until set and its ready to be served…
Now, a fair warning is that no matter what you do, the taste of the bananas will remain… So, if you hate bananas, this is not the recipe for you… However, I ended up liking the result inspite of being an extreme hater of bananas 🙂 As for the flavourings, you can replace or add to the vanilla extract with anything you want in your ice cream… Fruit jams, Syrups, etc… Maybe add some nuts/dry fruits to it to make it richer if needed, etc… But obviously doing so will reduce the health coefficient of this 🙂 At this point I am guessing the same idea can be applied with other similar pulpy fruits like Mangoes, Papaya, Avocado, etc… Anyways, do try this out and let me know how it goes… 🙂
