Monday, June 02, 2008

Chai-spiced Roasted Bananas

I'm a huge fan of bananas. They're quick, cheap, and transport well for the most part. But I always seem to either overbuy them and I usually end up throwing a few into the freezer for later use because I can't eat them fast enough. I wanted to find a way to try and use up the latest batch before they were doomed to the world of frostbite.

Enter this month's Vegetarian Times. They had a delicious recipe for Roasted Bananas with Jamaican Allspice. Although I am a fan of allspice, I wanted to try a little something different with the spices. I love chai and anything chai-spiced, so it was only right I give it a try. And I'm quite glad I did. This is a very tasty and easy dessert, and definitely one that can be whipped up in a matter of minutes. I also love roasted and baked dishes that are small enough to make in my toaster oven and doesn't require heating up my entire kitchen.

Serve by themselves or with a tasty scoop of vanilla ice cream. And I'm going to be honest - I honestly didn't think I'd like this as much as I did. I'm not normally a hot banana or banana dessert person, but this was quite fantastic, especially with the ice cream. You'll want to give this a try!

Chai-spiced Roasted Bananas

P.S. This picture is proof I use no fancy photo trickery! It's very hard to take a picture of a hot and cold item without it being a big old melted mess! =)

Chai-spiced Roasted Bananas
My variation of a Vegetarian Times' recipe

2 oz Smart Balance margarine (or butter)
1/2 c light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of cloves
A pinch of nutmeg
2 large bananas

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt margarine in a flat shallow container. Combine sugar and spices in another flat container. Peel bananas and cut in half lengthwise, then in half again. Dip flat side of banana in melted butter then into sugar and spice mixture. Set face down in a lightly oiled baking dish. Repeat with remaining banana pieces. Place into oven and bake for 10 minutes. Be sure sauce doesn't start to burn! Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Serve bananas with ice cream and drizzle remaining sauce over ice cream and bananas.

18 comments:

Evelin said...

roasted bananas are delicious! your version with spices sounds like dream:)

Anonymous said...

Looks amazing - I may have to try this with the kids tonight!!

Courtney said...

oh. my. god. this looks outstanding!

Special Sauce said...

OK. I hate bananas. Hate 'em with a passion. (The fruit. Ugh. But give me a banana muffin and I'm ok. Go figure.) These? I'd make 'em. I bet I'd even like 'em. I'm thinking they'd be great to try this weekend, too! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

These looks super. I'm not usually a hot banana person either, but I will make an exception for something that looks as tasty as this.

Dori said...

I too end up with banana's in the freezer which I always tell myself I'll use later in a smoothie... but this is something different and sounds so good. I love the chai spices too... I am definitely going to try this... It reminds me of when my mom use to bake bananas with brown sugar.

My Sweet & Saucy said...

That banana looks so delicious! Great recipe!

Brilynn said...

That sounds awesome! Seeing the roasted banana with that scoop of ice cream though makes me want to combine the two for a chai roasted banana ice cream!

Anonymous said...

Your picture is amazing (made me salivate)...everyone knows that ice cream melts (eventually)!

Candyce P. said...

this is an updated and really delicious-sounding bananas foster (which i make way too frequently)
i will definitely be trying your recipe! thanks!

test it comm said...

Those roasted bananas look great!

Anonymous said...

I'm also not a huge fan of banana desserts, but your picture makes me want to try this one out! Your blog is beautiful, by the way.

Miss M said...

Ohhhhh so good! I made mine with a little more cardamon and ginger (I can never have enough of either) and used some Reeds Ginger Vanilla ice cream. The nice thing is you don't need a lot of ice cream to make a nice filling flavorful dessert.

Unknown said...

I just made these (I'm eating them right now, in fact), and they are SO AMAZINGLY TASTY. I normally don't even like bananas, but I bought them especially for this recipe!

Special Sauce said...

Won over this banana hater... other ways to serve: Make a little extra sauce and serve over pancakes (or baked oatmeal, like I did).

liz said...

I just had braces put it and my back molars are not touching right now so I can't eat anything I have to "chew." I was over the moon when I saw this recipe. My boyfriend made it for me this weekend. It was SO delicious and being able to have dessert totally blew my mind.

Anonymous said...

hi there - i just recently discovered your site (mentioned over at Here's the Veg) - so lovely to see another vegequarian blog! I'm totally sold on these bananas: i love roasted/baked bananas, but have been looking for some inspiration beyond the normal cinnamon and brown sugar variety - and here it is! thank you and I'll be visiting again soon.

Anonymous said...

Easy enough to make my kids (1.5 & 4) helped make it. It is D-Lish.