• 2 large avocados
• Lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
•3/4 cup milk or thin coconut cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
•1/4 cup chopped onion
•1/4 teaspoon thyme
• Pepper
•3/4 cup fish – canned or leftover
• 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped (optional)
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1. Cut avocados in half lengthwise, remove pits, rub inside with lemon juice and set aside.
2. Melt butter, blend in flour and gradually add milk (or substitute), stirring continually over low heat until sauce is smooth.
3. Add seasonings, fish, eggs and onion and stir until well blended.
4. Heap mixture into centre of avo-cado halves and bake in 180°C oven for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and top each with 1 tablespoon mayonnaise.
6. Return to oven and bake 15 minutes longer.
7. Serve hot.
Method
You will need
2. Banana: Musa acuminata and plantain: Musa paradisiaca
This handbook discusses the two types of banana together because of their many similarities.
Bananas are probably one of the oldest cultivated and amongst the first food plants of man. In the Pacific, with the exception of some atolls, they are the most widely grown fruit (Lambert, 1968).
The true indigenous bananas were found mostly in the Western Pacific.
Bananas belong to the genus Musa. The plantain is Musa paradisiaca and the sweet banana eaten raw is Musa acuminata.
The species probably originated from Indonesia and Malaysia (Darley, 1993). The two general types of bananas grown and used in the Pacific are the cooking banana (plantain) and the common eating bananas, which are best eaten raw when ripe. The common eating bananas are the Cavendish, which has larger fruits, and the small, sweet type called lady’s fingers (Parkinson, 1989).
Bananas grow in different types of soil, but the most suitable are loose and well drained. About one year after planting, banana plants bear fruit. Each plant flowers and fruits only once. However, new suckers continue the life of the corm (Darley, 1993).
New plants are normally produced by planting the suckers (Lambert, 1968). A sucker unrolls a fixed number of leaves before fruiting occurs (Darley, 1993). Bananas may fruit at any time during the year, but most commonly in the warm months. The size of the bunch (number and size of the hands, size of the bananas) largely reflects the health and conditions of the sucker (Darley, 1993). Banana was one of the major cash crops exported to New Zealand in the early 1970s and 1980s by some Pacific Island countries.
Selection
Bananas that are fully mature and/or beginning to ripen on the plant have the best flavour. However, fruit left to ripen on the plant attract birds. In addition, if we live in urban areas and have to depend on the market for our supply, most of the ripe bananas we buy are harvested green, and may not be fully mature before harvest. As bananas ripen, starch is converted to sugar, the fruit softens and the colour changes from yellow-green to yellow, then to gold, eventually becoming mottled with dark spots (Darley, 1993).
When selecting bananas, choose those that have a more rounded appear-ance, with few or no ridges, because they will be fuller. Fruits must be free from bruising and sap stains. It is best to select those that are just begin-ning to turn yellow, because they will ripen in the
next few days. Bananas ripen very quickly in our climate, so ripe bananas will not last. The best temperature for the ripening process is 18–22°C. Fully ripe bananas with dark spots are the best for young children because all the starch in the fruit has been converted to sugar.
Storage
Whole bunches may be obtained and are best hung in a cool store-house or cool part of the kitchen. However, bananas are more commonly sold in hands. Ripe bananas bruise easily, so care must be taken when transporting them. The mature bunch can be left on the plant and only the most devel-oped hands (beginning to turn yellow) harvested as necessary. But this is advisable only if the plant is close to home.
Mature or half-ripe bananas, in either bunches or hands, can be ripened under controlled conditions. Ripening can be accelerated by placing the fruits in a warm place or in a plastic bag. They deteriorate when stored below 12°C. Fruits are best stored at a cooler temperature of 13–16°C (Potter & Hotchkiss, 1998). Ripe bananas may be refrigerated, but the cold temperature turns the skin an unattractive, dark-brown colour. The fruit eventually gets bruised and soft.
For international trade, bananas are stored at 14°C to stop ripening and to allow long-distance shipping. To ripen them, the temperature is increased and fruit is exposed to ethylene gas which allows the fruit to be stored for a month at 30°C (Darley, 1993).
Preparation
All three types (plantain, Cavendish, lady’s fingers) have similar character-istics. Recipes for one can be used for the others.
Ripe fruit should be washed well before use. Peel and trim off ends before eating. It is best to prepare bananas just before serving, to prevent them from being exposed to air and becoming oxidised. To mash bananas, use a fork and mash on a flat plate. For use in recipes, sliced or mashed bananas should be dipped in lemon juice to prevent browning. For some plantain recipes, it may be necessary to cut the fruit in half lengthwise and remove the dark middle vein.
sharp shell and place the peeled banana in water immediately to prevent browning before use. Green bananas stain badly and the stains are almost impossible to remove, so care must be taken not to get banana sap on clothes.
Food value
Ripe bananas are easily digested. They are a good source of energy — an average-sized banana contains about 377 kJ or 90 kcal (Stanton, 1986).
They are high in potassium (approximately 400 mg/100 g), and also con-tain some fibre and Vitamin C (Dignan et al., 1994). Plancon-tain can be a good source of carotene in the atolls.
Use
Bananas are eaten fresh as a fruit or used as an ingredient when ripe and as a starchy staple when green.
As a fruit, all three types are best eaten raw. Ripe bananas provide an excel-lent snack, fresh or dried. Sliced bananas can be added to fruit salads.
Pureed banana can be used to make ice-cream, cake, loaf, scone, pancake, muffin, soufflé and mousse. Ripe bananas can also form the base for side dishes to serve with curry when mixed with grated fresh coconut, sultanas and lemon juice.
Although ripe plantain is also eaten raw as fruit, it is more commonly used cooked.
All three types are made into delicious traditional puddings by mixing with cassava flour and coconut cream (e.g. poke, a Cook Island dish; lote, a Fijian dessert). In parts of Fiji Islands, ripe plantain is used in place of green leafy vegetables to cook with fish in coconut cream.
Fresh ripe bananas make an excellent weaning food for young children.
Mashed with some breast milk, or mashed and cooked in thin coconut milk, bananas provide a valuable supplement to the infant’s diet.
Half-ripe banana makes a very tasty snack when boiled or fried as chips.