"What," you say? Yes, it does sound like quite a mix but let me explain. It's a perfectly sane combination of my East meets West roots.
My Vietnamese mother used to make "sweet soup" occasionally. The soup consisted of variations of yellow mung beans with coconut milk (Che Dau Sanh) and other things like lotus seeds, fruit, or glutinous rice balls. She would sometimes add in banana slices, which I thought went nicely with the rich and creamy dessert. I most enjoyed fishing the glutinous rice balls out of my sweet soup.
Today my plan was to make myself some sago pudding, drizzled with coconut milk and palm sugar syrup. I could not find the palm sugar in the store and was not thrilled to substitute brown sugar. But then this got me thinking...what if I cooked my soon-to-be over the hill bananas with a brown sugar syrup and added it to a sago pudding sweet soup? It sounded worth trying.
Sago Pudding
6 cups water
1 cup sago
3-4 tablespoons sugar
1 can (400g) coconut milk
Soak the sago in water for about an hour. Bring the 6 cups of water to a boil and add the sago. Wait until the pot begins to boil again and reduce the heat to low. Cover and allow to cook, stirring occasionally until the sago is clear and cooked, approximately 20 minutes.
Drain some of the water if you prefer a thicker soup. Add the sugar and coconut milk and stir. Add more sugar if you prefer but remember that the banana foster is very sweet.
Glutinous Rice Balls
1 cup glutinous rice flour
2 tablespoons sugar
warm water
Combine the rice flour with sugar in a mixing bowl. Pour warm water into the bowl so that the dough is pliable (approximately 1/2 cup warm water). Roll the dough into balls, approximately 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter.
Drop the balls into boiling water. They will float to the top when they are thoroughly cooked.
Add them to the sago pudding.
Banana Foster
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter
1 cup brown sugar
3 ripe bananas, sliced
1/4 cup dark rum
In a skillet, combine the butter and sugar and heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is foamy. Place bananas into the pan and allow them to darken and soften slightly. Add the rum slowly and heat. If you tilt the skillet while the rum is hot, it may ignite (flambé). Otherwise, allow the alcohol to burn off.
Add the bananas to the sago pudding and enjoy.
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