Rotting Bananas? Time for Banana Sabudana Kheer

There are some things in a kitchen you just have to accept are going to happen. The milk will always boil in the split second you turn your eyes away. Honey will always take its own sweet time to exit the bottle no matter how hard you smack its bottom. And the bananas eventually will ripen too much. If left unattended and uneaten, they will turn soft and start to develop blotchy black discolorations. When that happens, you make Banana Sabudana Kheer.

Two childhood happy memories influenced this dish. As a child, mom would feed me mashed up overripe bananas in a bowl, mixed with a spoonful of sugar and a little milk for my after school treat. The other comfort food memory for me was Sabudana Kheer; the sweetened milk dessert made from Tapioca pearls, also known as Sago. Mom used to call it “Shortcut Kheer” because it was so quick and easy to execute. There was something delightfully playful about chomping on the gelatinous round pearl-like granules while slurping down thick sweetened milk laced with cardamom. After I would polish off my portion of kheer, I would then tell my little sister that the round pearls were fish eyes. She would run away screaming in disgust, leaving me an unsanctioned second helping, right there for the taking. There would be hell to pay when mom found out what I did, but it was totally worth it.

These two childhood memories coupled with an absolute dislike for food wastage led to this dish. The milk and bananas had started to outlive their usefulness. The milk was getting dangerously close to the expiry date.The bananas had probably were starting to develop the big black blotchy bruises. That's the "Use-it-or-Lose-it" moment that leads to magical kitchen discoveries.  Combining the banana memory with the Sabudana kheer memory yielded the most satisfying dessert. Surprisingly easy to execute, on top of that.

When making this dish, it’s very important to allocate at least an hour for washing and soaking the tapioca pearls. This ensures the tapioca pearls get nicely plump and properly hydrated. Skipping this step could result in the pearls being still raw in the center. The unwashed starch could turn the kheer into a sad version of sludge. Trust me, it is not good eating when that happens. Kheer needs to be a spoonable silky liquid that flows off the spoon into your mouth. Scooping soggy goopy pudding = EPIC fail. 

While the pearls are doing their thing submerged in water, the milk is brought to a boil, and stirred frequently to allow it to reduce. This causes the milk sugars to caramelize a little, adding to the overall flavor. I always maintain a separate saucepan when making milk based dishes. Nothing ruins a kheer experience worse than the flavors of yesterday’s fish curry. 

The mashy gooey overripe bananas go in next and with a hand mixer, the contents of the saucepan are blitzed into a luxuriously thick liquid. Next go in the soaked tapioca pearls and this all is simmered till the liquid turns thick and velvety. When it comes to choice of sweeteners, I like honey for this. Brown sugar also works well. I love the mild flavor of molasses, and the caramel color it imparts to the kheer. The final touch is a sprinkle of freshly pounded cardamom seeds, followed by a light splash of rose water. The lid is set, and the flavors are left alone to marry and come together in a happy blend. Astonishingly simple yet playful.

I like having my Banana Tapioca Pearls kheer warm right out of the pan. It’s also delightful when consumed chilled, which you can do, if there are any leftovers. A big emphasis on ‘If”.