In the western world we mostly see bananas as fruits that are used for deserts, maybe for banana bread. It mostly ends here. But if you look across the world you will find that there are many different ways how people use bananas in their cuisine. Ways that are not limited to just fruits and desserts but full meals. You could even compare bananas with potatoes when it comes to preparation of bananas.
Lets start with the common but outstanding cuisines synonymous with known cultures. The Banana Split, is a classic American Dessert which date back to the 1900s. Its first appearance was in Pennsylvania where it constituted a split of banana, few scoops of ice cream, strawberry sauce, chocolate sauce and Americas traditional maraschino cherry spread on top.
In Brazil, you are sure to find a dessert of bananas mashed in with brown sugar, cinnamon or cloves and grated ginger. The mix up is brought to cook slowly over low heat as it thickens. It is left to cool then molded into a roll, sliced and then served.
You can not only cook the bananas - you can also fry them. and they do just that in the Caribbean. They make a special dessert the is called the banana fritters. A short description of the recipe would be: cut the bananas in chunks, cover them with flour, dip them in batter, add some rum and fry them. When they are done cover them with powdered sugar and you are ready to go.
Next country that has some banana recipes to share and is big on bananas is India. They have quite a few recipes that include bananas so lets mention a few of them. I am sure that you have heard of Lassi, a traditional Indian drink. Of course there is a banana version of it that is called Sweet banana lassi and is made out of (no surprise) bananas and yogurt. Then there is a dessert called Panchamrutham that is made out of bananas, spices and honey and plenty of other recipes.
Next we are going into some of the countries that are also known for growing bananas. It is understandable that these countries have plenty of recipes that include bananas. Lets take a look at a few recipes from Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. They use bananas in a wide range of recipes from adding them to salads, using them in curry dishes (this is very common) or adding them to different food including vegetables. Bananas go great with stews and meat.
It may surprise you to know that there are even parts of the world, like in East Africa where bananas are used in the brewing of beer. Note that 80% of banana recipes use the plantain type of banana. Similarly, in tropical regions that grow bananas, it may also strike you to find leaves of the banana plant incorporated in their delicacies. There are countless cuisines that can be derived from the simple bananas. Moreover, they are nutritionally rich and a meal of banana, can sustain one comfortably.
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