Hot spiced bananas

It’s so interesting to eat this dessert after a delicious meal, especially on cool days. I like spices when they combine with other ingredients in both savory and sweet foods. 

Banana is also a kind of inexpensive tropical fruit. Besides eating them "raw" as a fruit for dessert, I have only tried making flambe with bananas or used them in cakes. From one of my books on desserts, I found this recipe which is very practical. So I hesitated no more to make this dessert. I was impressed by the deep flavor of the spices in each very tender banana piece. The rum and pineapple juice once again enhance the flavor of the bananas. In this single dish, the combination of different fragrant ingredients make the dessert so special and great in the taste.

But I think this dessert is more suitable to serve on cool or cold days, which is only possible when I return to my home in Hanoi. In Hanoi winter, I definitely make this dessert for my family to try. 

Ingredients: (serves 6)

- butter, for greasing

- 6 ripe bananas

- 2/3 cup light brown sugar

- 1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice

- 1/2 cup dark rum

- 2 cinnamon sticks

- 12 whole cloves or 1 tsp clove powder

Methods:

- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9” baking dish. 

- Peel the bananas and cut them diagonally into 1-inch pieces. Arrange the banana pieces evenly over the bottom of the prepared baking dish. 

- Mix the sugar and pineapple juice in a saucepan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally. Add the rum, cinnamon sticks and cloves. Bring to a boil, then remove the pan from heat. 

- Pour the hot pineapple and spice mixture over the bananas in the baking dish. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the bananas are hot and very tender. 

- Serve while still hot.