The month of February was filled with so many events and projects that I could hardly find time to get down and mess around in the kitchen for long. Firstly, there was the 15-days long Chinese New Year celebrations (lots of food and photos, I’ll get to posting them soon, hopefully!) and then, I had a couple of Valentine’s/Friendship Day celebrations with my dear friends (photos again, soon!). On top of that, I’m also tied down by a record amount of school projects and assignments in this final semester of college. That explains my absence from February’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge which I heard took 10 hours to complete! Great job you guys and gals!

It wasn’t till the week long mid-semester break last week, that I could find a little time off from all the slogging to bake this Banana Phydelity. The “break” came in time for me to catch up with and finish up some work and at the end of it, I felt like treating myself to some home-made desserts. SZ and I went on a dessert hunt the other day and tried the “Baked Banana in Phyllo Pastry” and signature dish, “Grand Marnier Soufflé” from Infuzi at Biopolis. The desserts were pricey and quite disappointing. The only saving point was the vanilla ice-cream that came with both desserts. It was really light and smooth, and I could see all the tiny vanilla seeds in it. We preferred the Baked Banana over the Soufflé, which we thought was too ‘egg-y’ for our liking and had only the slightest hint of Grand Marnier. You have to be really lucky to scoop out a spoonful of soufflé that had Grand Marnier in it.

I thought of re-creating the Baked Banana in Phyllo Pastry (really long name for a simple dessert) because it seemed really easy to replicate. And to save our tongues and fingers from saying or typing that out, SZ and I decided to name this dessert the “Banana Phydelity”! From this day on, we will be naming all our phyllo pastry desserts with the word ‘Phydelity’. Apple Phydelity, Strawberry Phydelity, Peaches and Mangoes Phydelity…. This dessert took only about 20 minutes preparation time and another 15 minutes of baking. Best of all, it costs only a small fraction of the price of one plate from Infuzi! I think it even tastes better than Infuzi’s version too, at least the unanimous response from my family could back that up. Everyone’s plate was clean within 5 minutes! It was delectable enough to make my mum call my aunt over to try it!

Banana Phydelity ( serves 8 )
Ingredients

• 4 large ripe bananas, chopped or sliced
• 2 teaspoon of brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or nutmeg
• 1/2 cup chocolate bits (or just chopped chocolate)
• 16 20×20cm phyllo pastry pieces
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup icing sugar (I gave a generous estimate this amount)

• Vanilla Ice-cream

Vanilla Sauce (makes 2 cups)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cups milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 vanilla pod split lengthwise, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Steps

1. Preheat oven at between 180 deg C.
2. Mix the bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon and chocolate together in a large bowl and set aside.
3. Lay 1 piece of phyllo pastry on a clean working surface. Brush the melted butter over one side of the pastry and turn it over. Brush the other side of the pastry with butter and lightly dust some icing sugar over the entire surface.
4. Lay a second piece of phyllo pastry onto the first piece and brush the top side of the pastry with melted butter. Dust this top side lightly with icing sugar.
5. Scoop about 1/8 of the banana mixture from the bowl and arrange it at one end of the prepared phyllo pastry (leave about 3 cm on the left and right sides, and 2 cm on the bottom for wrapping.
6. Wrap the bananas by folding the phyllo pastry around it. Bring the 2cm-margin of pastry over the bananas and start rolling along the length of the pastry till you get to the mid-point. Now fold the 3-cm sides inwards and continue rolling up the rest of the pastry.
7. Repeat steps 2-6 for the rest of the banana mixture and phyllo pastry.
8. Place the rolled up bananas fold side down, on a baking tray lined with baking sheets. Bake in the oven at 180 deg C for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, you can prepare the vanilla sauce.

1. Sprinkle the cornstarch over 1/2 cup of the milk in a small bowl and whisk to dissolve. Add the sugar and egg yolks and whisk well.
2. Bring the remaining 1 1/2 cup of milk and the vanilla pod to a simmer in a saucepan over low heat. Remove the pod and scrape the vanilla seeds into the milk. Gradually whisk the egg yolk mixture into the milk.
3. Continue whisking the sauce on low heat until it comes to a full boil and remove from heat immediately. If you are using vanilla extract, stir it in now. Strain the sauce through a wire sieve into a bowl.

Assembly:

1. Drizzle the vanilla sauce over a serving plate.
2. Cut the baked pastry into half and arrange it on the plate. You may omit this step if you want to serve it in a piece.
3. Dust the remaining icing sugar over the phyllo pastry.
4. Serve with a scoop of ice cream on the top or by the side of the pastry.
5. Decorate with any fruits (raspberries, strawberries etc) of your choice and a mint leaf.
6. Try to assembly the final piece fast as you want to serve the baked bananas warm!