One of my fondest memories in Vietnam is walking down a road, hungry and looking for a restaurant that served decent veg food (I do eat a bit of non veg, but then we entered a restaurant, saw glass cases with snakes, frogs and other creatures and just ran out, traumatized… this on a hungry stomach!) and then finding a cart full of something interesting-looking. We gingerly approached the seller, afraid of what we might suddenly find, only to stare in disbelief – this was vegetarian!

We tried a few things but one of them won our hearts – banana steamed in a coating of rice and coconut, subsequently grilled on charcoal. We were delighted to find that when we ordered it, the seller placed it in a bowl and topped it up with with sago pudding!

It was one of the most divine things we’d tasted, probably enhanced by the fact that we were starving. I still love making this, especially when I have to finish over-ripe bananas.

Time taken: 30 min
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 small bananas (or 2 big ones cut in half)
1 ½ cups cooked rice
½ cup rice flour
½ cup grated coconut
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp sesame seeds
Banana leaves/ Pandan leaves or Turmeric leaves (optional)
Sesame oil for shallow/ deep frying

For the Sago Pudding:

½ cup sago (tapioca pearls), soaked in water overnight
250 ml coconut milk
⅓ cup sugar (brown or palm sugar can also be used)
a pinch of salt

Instructions

Grind the cooked rice in a bender until it is a bit pasty. You can add a little water if it is too sticky.

Mix in the coconut and enough rice flour to bring it to a consistency of a coarse dough.

Coat each banana with this rice dough, roll in sesame seeds, cover with a leaf if you have any, and place it in a steamer.

After 10 minutes, turn the bananas over and let cook for another 5 minutes or so or until they look done.

They can be served as it, or grilled, or shallow or deep fried in sesame oil before serving.

Sago Pudding

Boil the sago with coconut milk, sugar and salt, stirring continuously for a few minutes and then cooking covered until transparent, about 10 minutes. If you haven’t soaked the sago, it may take 15 min to cook.

To Serve

Slice the banana into 4-5 pieces, pour the sago pudding on top and serve warm

Note: The dish in the top-most picture is a quicker version. It isn’t roasted or fried, and is served with a very quick coconut sauce made by boiling coconut milk with a little sugar and a pinch of salt.