A hyper-sustainable recipe highlighting the use of Bananas. The culmination is a surprising savoury dish packed full of flavour. Crispy on the outside and soft and fragrant on the inside - these stuffed banana balls make a perfect party dish or even just a decadent (or not) lunch option.


Ingredients

Serves 3 persons

  • Wheat Flour (Type 65) - 1.5 cups
  • Corn Starch - 1 half cup
  • Banana - 2 units
  • Onion - 2 units
  • Garlic - 2 cloves + 3 cloves
  • Sweet Paprika Powder - 1.5 teaspoons
  • Turmeric - 1.5 teaspoons
  • Coconut Sugar - 3 tablespoons
  • Vegan Butter - 1 tablespoon
  • Panko - 2 cups
  • Red Bell Pepper - 1 unit
  • Green Bell Pepper - 1 unit
  • Basil - 2 bunches
  • Arugula - 150 grams
  • Olive Oil - 3 tablespoons
  • Salt - 1 teaspoon
  • Ground Black Pepper- to taste
  • Water - 3 cups

Instructions
  1. Heat up oven to 180 degrees. Finely dice onion and garlic. Peel bananas, set the peels aside and chop the flesh of the banana.
  2. In a pot, heat up 1 tablespoon of vegan butter and olive oil. Add garlic and onion, and after 2 minutes add in the sliced bananas, salt, paprika, turmeric, pepper and water. Lower the heat and cook until bananas are cooked.
  3. Add flour and cornstarch to the banana mixture. Stir everything vigorously until the mixture stops sticking to the bottom of the pot (around 20 minutes). Take the mixture out of the pot, set aside and let it cool off.
  4. Meanwhile, take care of your stuffing. Chop basil. Get rid of the white parts of banana peels and chop it finely. Also chop the onion, garlic and both of the peppers. In a pan, heat up 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add in the chopped vegetables to the pan and fry for around 15 minutes. Add in chopped basil. Take off from the center of heat.
  5. Divide your dough into 9 equal parts and form balls. Spread every little ball into a flat pancake and place a teaspoon of stuffing in the middle. Close up the dough forming a nice round ball again and coat it in panko. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Place your balls in baking tray and pop them in the oven. Bake until golden brown (Approximately 15 minutes). If you don't have an oven, you can fry banana balls in a pan.
  6. Cover your plate with arugula leaves, drizzle with olive oil, place portion of banana ball on the bed of arugula.

Recipe by Lisbon Vegan Junkies and image by Venn