This goes out to the next mom whose child says: “Oh! Mom! I forgot to tell you. I need to take in some food to school tomorrow.”
“Food? What kind of food?”
“Laos food.”
“Laos food? As in ‘food often eaten by the people of Laos?’ (I pay attention. I saw the PowerPoint show he already turned in. over. and over. and over. again.)”
“uh huh.”
(I just stare at him.)
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t talk, I’m thinking about how you are going to make this up to me.”
So I participate in the internet search because I know I’ve got to go to Publix later and I would like to actually FIND the ingredients for the “Laos food.”
I just have one thing to say: YUM!
Check this out:
6 bananas, sliced
2 1/2 cups of coconut milk (look in the ethnic food section of your grocery store)
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of salt (I just sprinkled in a tiny bit)
Pour the milk in a pan and add the brown sugar and salt.
Heat till warm and the sugar dissolves.
Add the bananas and cook over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
Serve warm.
And again. YUM!
The coconut milk and brown sugar thicken and the results are . . . almost good enough to let FormerFavoriteSon off the hook for doing the “oh yeah, I need it tomorrow” thing.
Almost.
Click Here for a print friendly version of this recipe in PDF,
I mentioned before – I LOVE my Vidalia Chop Wizard! Last time I showcased this wonderful little gadget, someone commented that they were surprised that it could handle tougher veggies, like onions and carrots, so I thought I’d show how the chop wizard handles onions. Notice that I’m using the smaller chopping grate this time and check out the time on the little red clock.
Again, I PROMISE you – I did NOT touch that little red clock! I just LOVE this thing! Chopped onions really are a breeze!
But you probably noticed I didn’t finish all three onions. I actually filled up the chop wizard and had to stop to complete my “onion chopping ritual,” so I thought I’d go ahead and include it in this post as well. I usually chop onions in bulk to freeze, but I only had three today. Here’s what I do:
I chop all the onions I’ve got, either using the chop wizard OR, when I’m really in a hurry, I use my Oster food processor attachment. (I have a 1990 Oster Kitchen Center, but for smaller jobs, I keep my 2003 Oster blender on the counter because it takes most of the same attachments. Isn’t it cool that the attachments are interchangeable?) Anyway, I had an extra 5 minutes today and I really prefer the onions chopped in nice little squares – they’re just prettier than the shredded onion that the food processor produces.
Then, I lay out the chopped onions on a large metal cookie sheet for flash freezing. Flash freezing refers to the freezing technique where you lay out something individually, best on a metal cookie sheet (it gets colder much faster than a cutting board), and freeze it quickly. It keeps the food from sticking together in a big frozen ball of goo. REALLY great for freezing any kind of berry!
Then, I sit here for about a half an hour and write this post. (besides, I need my coffee.) I usually leave the onions in longer because I forget about them. If you can leave them for an hour or two, that’s actually better. I once left them in overnight with no problems. At a minimum, you want ice crystals to form.
When the onions are frozen, I move them from the cookie sheet into something better for freezer storage, such as a Ziploc bag. I stack the bags in the freezer and because they are flat, they take up very little space. (I was going to include a photo of the frozen onions on the cookie sheet, but you can’t see the ice crystals, so it just looks the same as the pre-frozen cookie sheet photo.)
Later, when a recipe calls for onion, I’m ready! They defrost really fast! I leave the bag on the counter for a few minutes and when I take the slab of onion out of the the Ziploc, it just crumbles.
