Bananas and Sago in Coconut Milk

I’m not what I would call a foodie, but this dish is one of my favorites here in Singapore so far. We went to a church Relief Society meeting on Tuesday night called “East Meets West”. The Singapore 1^st Ward (West - expatriates mostly from US and Australia) was taught by the Tao Payoh Ward (East - local Singapore folks) how to make a vegetable dish. It looked and smelled fantastic, but they used prawns so I couldn’t try it because sea food makes me so sick. Bummer. The lady had already prepared the spices for use before she came so she could just cook it on a hot plate for us quite quickly. She said totally nonchalantly that she had pounded the chilies, shallots and dried prawns for about an hour, maybe a little bit more. You WHAT? Pounded? For an hour? Call me lazy, but even if it had tasted great I never would have made it. She said we could use a blender but it wouldn’t taste quite as fresh and she liked it really good.

The rest of the program was where we showed and tasted a desert we had made for each other. I brought Chocolate Marshmallow Fudge Brownies. That screams Western to me. Chocolate. Sticky. Sweet. Sinful. Overly indulgent. Lots of the things they made were good, but several used bean something and the textures were just too much for me. This one I loved. I hate coconut AND tapioca but this stuff was delicious. Never used coconut milk before I moved here, but here it is sold in the baking section near the sweetened condensed milk. Like I said, I’m not a foodie. Enjoy!

Bananas and Sago in Coconut Milk

This super-fast dessert is delicious served hot or cold

¼ c sesame seeds, toasted in a dry pan until golden

6 ripe bananas slant-sliced into thirds

2 cups coconut milk

½ c sugar

¼ tsp salt

3 tbsp tapioca pearls (sago), rinsed in cold water and drained

1. Combine coconut milk, water, sugar and salt in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves. Add the bananas and tapioca pearls.

2. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring often, for 5 to 7 minutes more, or until the tapioca pearls turn translucent.

3. Remove the pan from the heat. Spoon the mixture into individual dessert bowls and sprinkle half teaspoon sesame seeds over the top before serving.

Serves 6 - 8

Picture from here. Will post my pic once I make it at home.