Banana Mango Curry Sauce

Preparation is key. Only the best prep will make a delicious banango curry.

Sure, I should call this Mango Banana as the mango is in greater quantities than the banana, but the banana has a stronger taste presence. Did I just use the phrase: “Taste presence”? Dear reader, I have worries about my sanity. I think I’m starting to become a food blogger! What? I am? Oh, well, that’s okay then. So, you might be wondering why I’m sharing yet another fruit curry sauce. There are a few reasons. Firstly, I wanted a veganised version of my Sweet Mango Curry, just because really, no greater reason than that. There wasn’t much to tweak, most of my recipes can be adapted to be vegan, many already have because of my insatiable curiosity. I wanted to try sous-vided chicken and a pour over sauce seemed the best idea, truth be told sous-vided chicken would be great for sandwiches, but the overly tenderized chicken was lost in the sauce. I’ll just add that the recipe is vegan, my use wasn’t, I won’t feel I have to keep mentioning that. I’d rather we look through the ingredients and their effects and reasons for inclusion.

It’s nearly al fruit so you don’t need to cook it too much. Or to mush.

The other reason I wanted this as a pour over was it could be made in a frying pan rather than a pot and because the ingredients don’t need that long to cook it could be made faster. I also wanted a reduced sauce as the mango sauce is usually overflowing and not everyone wants that much sauce. I mostly do single servings so I accept that sometimes you do with a bit more than you need, or than is visually appealing. See, everything has a reason when you’re creating a recipe, you just have to know the reason why certain ingredients are being used, the best way is of course to keep trying every recipe that’s available to you. A fruit curry wasn’t something I was familiar with or had ever eaten if I’m not mistaken, but now not only do I have a few recipes, I’m also making my own. I worry less about recipes being too similar these days as variety helps keep me happy and on track. Even if I never return to some recipes I still enjoy the process of creating them, sharing them and breaking down the different elements and techniques that make up the dish. So, again, why did I use what I used?

The fruit is there because I’ve always sought a way to include more fruit into my diet without the need of disguising it. I find that when I used to eat smoothies for my fruit I’d end up making a much too large smoothie with too many additional ingredients, all of which mask the natural sweetness of the fruit, which in turns makes you less likely to eat more. That’s just me mind, there are plenty of recipes for healthy and balanced smoothies. My path to more fruit, more vitamin C too, supposed to help with histamine intolerance, no harm if it doesn’t, was just a little different. That’s the way these kind of trials go. You have to find your own way and you can’t always make yourself fit what you feel is the norm. Fruit in curry works best for me. Maybe it’ll work better for you too.

I drew a line with the  spoon and it refused to slide back completely.

Why hemp? Because of the unique billowing texture it brings to the curry. I find it can feel too filling at each mouthful, yet the feeling never lingers, it’s more of a psychological one: It feels very rich and decadent and I’m attuned to avoiding too much food like that. I won’t say it’s a vegan cream or anything so hyperbolic, but it gives a wonderful depth of texture and thanks to the spices the flavour of the hemp hearts are masked and they in no way spoil the flavour of the other ingredients. I feel hemp hearts are vastly overlooked and underutilized in cooking and in general. There seems to be a preference towards hemp protein powders, but I like whole food whenever possible.

My kitchen timer broke and nearly ruined my rice. I bought a new one…finally.

You can possibly tell that this uses a single serving of my Sweet Nightshade Free Curry Powder which I like when using it to increase the sweetness of a dish, but I find that it doesn’t work as well as a general curry powder, but since I have two that can be used like that already (Here and Here) you can just make use of its uniqueness. It’s a shame that so many recipes rely on pre-blended spices or just uses general terms when calling for spices. You know the ever ubiquitous “Curry Powder” which usually means one with nightshades and if you replace it you will greatly alter the dish. At least if they tell you what it contains you’ll know whether your substitutions will work. I find nightshade intolerance is the hardest part of my diet on the whole. There are just some spices that can’t be replaced and you sometimes have to take a different path entirely to get new recipes.

I haven’t really touched on taste, have I, dear reader? It is a sweet curry, don’t think the onions and garlic will drastically alter that. The spices give it a sweet pop, while the banana give it a fruity undertone. I find the mango the least flavoursome aspect of it. I have substituted the honey in the original with maple syrup, it adds a lot of sweetness, you might have to adjust to preference. I did mention hat the chicken was too ender when compared to the sauce and I think tat what might work best here would be something crunchy. Maybe roasted vegetables as you can cook them separately and just stir them into the sauce when it has reached the desired consistency. You can also freeze this sauce, perhaps freeze it into individual portion for a little fruity kick.

That’s a lot of writing to break down such a simple recipe, eh, dear reader? Still you never know when a seemingly dull bit of knowledge might be useful to someone out there. I do often wonder how many of these recipes are tried, I have had comments, none bad as far as I can recall, but there’s a large disparity between comments and views. I make these recipes because I enjoy it and because I need to eat too. But if they happen to help that’d be pretty great. Perhaps there’s another me out there that needs the help like I did all those years back and they won’t have to struggle as much as I did. Who know, dear reader? I’ll see you later.

Ingredients

75g Fresh or Frozen Mango, Chopped
1/2 a Just Ripe Banana
160ml Coconut Cream
1/2 Large Yellow Onion, Chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, Cut in Half
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Shelled Hemp Seed
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup

For the Spice Blend

1/4 Tsp:

Ground Cumin
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Nutmeg
Ground Cardamom
Ground Ginger
Ground Turmeric

1/8 Tsp:

Ground Cloves
Ground Anise
Salt
Black Pepper

Can be frozen.

Method

1. Heat Olive Oil in a pan and when warm add Onion and Garlic stir and let cook for 5-10 minutes, on a medium heat, or until soft.

2. Add Coconut Cream, Spices, Mango, Maple Syrup, Banana, Hempseed and then stir together and simmer uncovered until mango is soft.

3. Pour everything into a blender and blend the sauce until smooth and return to pan. Cook at a medium simmer until sauce reaches desired consistency while being careful not to let it burn.