Bananas.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 992, 6 March 1891, Page 4

Bananas.

The humble banana is a most health-giving and nutritious fruit, the properties of which are but vaguely appreciated by the fruiteating public, whp, as a rule, look upon the banana as a cjieap edible when other fruits are scarce or out of season. Besides eating tho fruit in its fresh state there are many ways of cooking it, both as a vegetable and in sweet and savoury dishes, to suit both old and. young. A resident of the Fijis who has had years of experience with bananas sends me the following recipes : BANANA CURRY. Take four ripe bananasqjnd peel them ; cut into slices about tho thickuess of an ordinary small round lunch biscuit, and fry with an onion (which must be finely chopped) in butter until all becomes a light brown. Add half a cup of weak stock or the same quantity of sweet milk and water, a pinch of salt, and a little grated lemon peel; bring all to a boil in a saucepan, then stir in one tablespoonfnl of curry powder, and a dessertspoonful of

arrowroot, having previously mixed and dissolved each in half a cup of cold water. Stir the whole gently until it once more comes to the boil, when it may be drawn on one side of the stove and allowed to remain for half an hour, when an excellent curry will be found ready. Serve with rice in the usual way. BANANA PUDDING (FOR CHILDREN). Cut half a dozen—or more—of the ripe fruit lengthways, lay them in a piedish, cover with sweet milk, sugar, and nutmeg to taste, and bake in a moderately quick oven for an hour. A dessertspoonful of corn flour may be stirred into the milk before baking, which will set the pudding slightly. BANANA FRITTERS. Cut the fruit in half lengthways, dip into a sweet batter made with one well-beaten egg, into which has been stirred one tablespoonful of sugar, one of milk, and two of cornflour or ordinary flour, fry in boiling fat, or butter if preferred, until the fritters become a delicate brown, and serve garnished with white crystalised sugar. BANANAS A LA EMPIRE. Cut some ripe fruit into three or four slices lengthways, fry in good batter, and lay the pieces whilst very hot in a dish; add a wineglass of sherry in proportion to every four bananas, in which has been dissolved half a wineglassful of sugar. A squeeze of lemon will be found a useful addition to this dish, which is usually appreciated when once tested. BANANAS AND BACON (A TASTY BREAKFAST DISH). Fry thin slices of bacon, and when cooked place in a dish and keep hot in the oven; then fry slices of ripe bananas cut lengthways in the hot bacon fat, and serve as you would a dish of bacon and eggs—bacon underneath, bananas on top —with a slight sprinkling of cayenne pepper. BANANAS AS A VEGETABLE. Take the green fruit and boil in salt and water for three hours with the skins on. When cooked, peel and dish with a slight sprinkling of pepper, salt, and a lump of butter about the sizo of a walnut. The fruit can be either left whole or mashed and pressed into any required shape, when it tastes like a delicate Bweet potato. Boiled when half ripe they also make an excellent vegetable, retaining distinctly the flavour of the banana. Dora.