When I was growing up in Cuba, my mom used to make a dish that was called Platanos en Tentation (Temptation Bananas - Baked and Caramelized Plantains or Bananas)
As one of our side dishes for our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday I made a little different version of Platanos en Tentacion.
I used some Cuban Red bananas from our yard and marinated them in passion fruit juice, also from our yard. If you live in areas where you can't find fresh or can't grow passion fruit, you might be able to find some frozen, concentrated passion fruit juice in Latino or Asian stores. Most of it comes from South or Central America where the
passion fruit is called Maracuya and from Thailand.
Sonia's Platanos en Tentacion Tropical
4 Cuban Red bananas, ripe
4 - 5 large passion fruit - juiced
Vanilla extract - optional
Butter
Brown sugar
Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop out the seeds and pulp into a fine mesh colander or sieve. Stir and scrape as much of the pulp and juice as you can into a bowl or meassuring cup.
Peel and slice bananas lengthwise and place in a shallow dish marinating in the passion fruit juice for a couple of hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 350 F
Butter a glass baking dish
Place the banana slices, cut-side up in the dish and spoon some of the passion fruit juice to which you've added a bit of vanilla extract (if using) liberally over them.
Dot the cut bananas with butter
Sprinkle with brown sugar
Place in oven and bake until golden and caramelized.
Be sure to have plenty of the juice in the dish or the bown sugar will caramelize into a thick paste, more like molasses.
YIELD: at least 2 pieces per person - 4 servings
SOURCE: Sonia's kitchen
