I was flicking through the Yoga Cookbook and saw a recipe for a prune mousse…stewed prunes with yogourt and agar agar to thicken…hmmmm simple, interesting. For some reasons I prefer to keep yogourt savoury so I used a little tahini instead….added a pinch of cinnamon and fried bananas. Bananas keep appearing in the Growing Communities fruit bags. I don’t normally buy them because they are not really ….local nor seasonal to our climate. But Growing Communities have to respond to demand as well and people seem to want bananas…I fried them gently in coconut oil, on both sides, till golden. This changes the flavour, I can’t say exactly how but it works very well. Also, as they are a very sweet fruit, cooking them with a bit of fat make their sugar a little slower to absorb by the body. Plantain are similar to bananas and are eaten cooked. I was wondering what you think? Something interesting to research…
The bananas work very well as a garnish for this prune mousse….I have put a picture of the agar-agar flakes in case you have forgotten what they look like. They are good for creating jelly like consistency. The basic ratio is 10 to 12 g per litre of liquid for a hard jelly. To get more of a mousse, you case use 6-8g per litre and add a spoon of arrow root diluted in cold water (about 5g per litre).
You add the flakes to a hot liquid (in this case prunes stewed in water which have been blended), stir a few minutes till the flakes are absorbed and pour in a dish. The jelly sets when it cools. If you use arrowroot to make the jelly creamier, add it diluted at the same time as the agar agar.
Also, another tip is to blend the jelly once set and then you get a very nice mousse effect. This is a good time to add the tahini or other seasonings (orange rind, vanilla etc).
I tend to keep the agar agar jelly for the summer, using fresh apple or pear juice and adding berries. They look beautiful and are refreshing. But reading the macrobiotic guide conversations on FB, someone suggested that even in winter these jellies were a good dessert…somehow with dried fruits I thought it would be more wintery….Let me know if you want a more detailed recipe:-)
