I had some cashew nuts in my freezer and since cashews are grown in a tropical climate, I figured that there had to be a tropical recipe using cashews. It turns out, from the recipes I have found so far at least, that there aren’t that many. And thinking back about it I realized that nuts are not often incorporated into tropical cuisine.
I uncovered what is a little of a culinary mystery, to me at least, while I was looking for ways to incorporate cashews into my tropical cuisine: while in West African cuisine peanuts are both eaten as such, and ground into a paste used to prepare hearty stews, cashew nuts are not. They are widely present in Indian cuisine though, even if cashew nuts are mostly grown in Africa and South America, there lies the disconnect and mystery.
I finally came across this cake, said to be from the Casamance region of Sénégal. It required such little effort that I was worried about it coming out as a disaster. I am glad to say that it was not the case. The cake has a taste similar to that of a banana cake. I was actually a little disappointed that the cashew nut flavor was a little overpowered by the flavor of the bananas. This cake might represent an attempt to incorporate the local crop into the local cuisine, I do not know for sure. What I do know is that the batter was ready in 10 mins and I have greatly enjoyed eating it for breakfast.
gateau banane et noix de cajoux Recipe
Print recipe| Prep time | 1 hour |
| Cook time | 45 minutes |
| Total time | 1 hour, 45 minutes |
| Meal type | Breakfast, Dessert |
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas
- 3 eggs
- 1.5 cups flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 100g butter
- 1.5 tablespoons baking powder
- dash vanilla extract
- 100g ground cashew nuts
- drizzle milk
- dash nutmeg
Directions
| 1. | In a mixing bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, melted butter, the flour, the baking soda, the vanilla extract and the nutmeg |
| 2. | Peel the bananas and slice them |
| 3. | In a plate, mass the sliced bananas with the milk with a fork |
| 4. | Add the bananas-milk mixture and the ground cashew nuts to the rest of the ingredients |
| 5. | Mix with a wooden spoon until you obtain a smooth mixture |
| 6. | Butter a cake pan, and dust it with a little bit of flour. Pour the cake mixture in the pan |
| 7. | Bake at 350F for 45 min. Check that the cake is baked through by inserting a knife in the center. If the knife comes out dry, the cake is ready |
| 8. | Wait for the cake to cool down completely, and remove it from the pan |
Note
adapted from saanicuisine.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/gateau-a-la-banane-et-noix-de-cajour/
gorgeous
Thank you!