Trying new things in the kitchen is necessary for growth. Just like in any other relationship, if you don’t spice things up from time to time and experiment, the pilot light goes out.
That being said – experimenting is tricky. You’re not always sure how your ingredients are going to react to new additions in the kitchen. Sometimes protein won’t stiffen, no matter how much you beat it, and if you’re unfamiliar with your equipment you could end up with white stuff all over your face. Whoops.
But I am not one to shy away from experimentation.
Soft Cream. I invented it.
My ice cream wouldn’t get hard for me – perhaps I need to work on my pick-up lines?
I followed a recipe I saw on Lifehacker.com (contain your sniggers, please) for easy peasy ice cream. Simply combine heavy whipping cream and condensed milk and beat on high for about 10 minutes, add flavouring, shove it in the freezer and your surname could be Baskin or Robbins.
A week later my “ice cream” still resembles soft serve on a sunny February day.
Look, it tastes really good. I added saffron and vanilla extract for flavour and it’s a winning combination. It smells like marshmallows. Yum. I know there’s something really simple that resulted in its inability to freeze. But right now I’m over trying to figure out where I went wrong and I’m sticking with my story – soft cream FTW!
I had a few leftover, over-ripe bananas so I hauled out Tannie de Villiers’ Kook en Geniet for a fritter recipe.
I used the recipe for pumpkin fritters and simply replaced the pumpkin with mashed banana.
So everything was working just fine until the first batch. The batter was quite runny and I was struggling to wrangle it in the pan. I decided to improvise. I added some more flour and two tablespoons of oats to the batter to thicken it up.
Well, congrats Sam! You’re making flapjacks.
If I’ve learnt anything through trial and error, it’s that you don’t need to do no trying or erring with Tannie de Villiers’ recipes. The first batch of fritters (sans my additions) was by far the tastiest.
Banana Fritters
2 cups of mashed banana
1/2 cup of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt
1 tbs oats if preferred (they were tasty)
butter for frying (tastier than oil)
Mix bananas, flour, salt and baking powder. Add egg and mix together.
Heat butter in pan. Add spoonfuls of batter to pan. Fry for about a minute or two, check if it’s lifting easily, flip and fry for another minute or until golden brown on both sides. Drain on roller towel. Repeat until batter is finished. I didn’t sprinkle with sugar as I served with soft cream.
Serve with soft cream, or ice cream. Use it, don’t use it…
Oven Loving 