Asian Fusion Events

Dessert is my favorite part of any meal. And as I was researching for this article, I realized how different Asian cultures have different versions of several banana desserts.

In the Philippines we have several desserts with bananas as the main ingredient. While I was looking at other Asian cultures’ banana recipes I just noticed how similar they were to our Filipino versions.

Vietnamese Bananas with Sweetened Coconut

Vietnamese: Fried Banana with Sweetened Coconut

This recipe is from the Qlinart Blog: Asian Cuisine for People on the Go.

Ingredients
6 ripe bananas cut crosswise each one into 3 pieces
10 tbsp all purpose flour
10 tbsp water
½ cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Rum or liquor of your choice

1. Prepare batter by mixing the flour and water in a medium sized bowl. Dip the bananas in the batter then coat them with the shredded coconut.
2. Fry in a deep medium sauce pan in oil for 2 minutes each side, or until bananas are light golden brown.
3. Transfer bananas onto a plate covered with paper towel to absorb the excess oil from the bananas.
4. Serves 6 people.

This recipe reminds me of a Filipino banana dessert called maruya or banana fritters. We mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar with milk, water and an egg to form a batter. We dip the bananas in this batter then into more flour and deep fry them. We sprinkle powdered sugar on them before serving. Very similar, don’t you agree?

Malaysian Sweet Bananas with Boba Dessert

Another recipe I found is a very familiar Malaysian one called Sweet Banana with Sago/Tapioca Pearls Dessert from the Foodilicious Malaysia blog.

Ingredients
3 tablespoon small sized sago pearls
1 large banana
1 pandan leaf
3-5 tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk or coconut cream
2 cups water

1. Wash the sago with water, drain and boil in 2 cups water. Add salt, and whole pandan leave — you can tie a knot with the leaf. Let simmer till sago turns transparent, about 15 minutes.
2. Add the sugar & stir until it is dissolved.
3. Add in the sliced bananas and the milk, or coconut cream, little by little. Let simmer for 10 minutes, or until the banana softens.
4. Serve warm or chilled, in small bowls

This reminds me of one of my favorite Filipino desserts guinataan – and this is how we make it:

Ingredients:
2 liters water
500 g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
300 g yam (taro), peeled and cut into chunks
500 g purple yam (ube), peeled and cut into chunks
6 saba (plantain) bananas, sliced 2 cm (1 in) thick
250 g galapong (rice flour)
250 g sago (tapioca pearls or boba)
200 g jackfruit strips
500 ml fresh or canned coconut cream
500 g white refined sugar

1. Boil the water in a stockpot.
2. Add the sweet potatoes and yam and simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the purple yam and saba bananas and continue simmering for a few more minutes.
4. Meanwhile roll the rice flour into small balls.
5. Drop the rice flour balls, sago and jackfruit strips into the liquid and continue to simmer.
6. Stir in coconut cream and sugar.
7. Simmer until all the ingredients are tender, about 20 minutes.
8. Serve warm.

Banana Springrolls

And of course, one of my husband’s specialty dessert – the turon.  I’ve seen these in Thai restaurants and Asian-inspired cuisine usually have this in their menu.  I found this recipe from SaltShaker.net blog.

Saltshaker.net described this Asian style dessert called banana springrolls – with baby bananas rolled up in phyllo dough with butter and brown sugar, and served in a sauce of coconut milk, white and brown sugar, turmeric and salt.

In the Philippines we have a similar dessert we call turon.  It uses ripe bananas with sweet jackfruit, sugar and sesame seeds rolled up in a rice flour wrapper and deep fried until the wrapper is crispy.  This, I find, is best served with ice cream.

No matter which version you prefer, enjoy your dessert.  It is that special part of your menu that your guests will remember long after they leave your party.  Bananas definitely add an Asian flavor to your feast – personalize your banana dessert – take a little inspiration from the recipes here then add your own signature twist to it.  Have fun!

My husband and I love dimsum – we used to live in Monterey Park where you can buy it on almost every street corner. We have had many gatherings where we served shumai and it has always been very popular, but because it was so easy to buy we never really thought about making it.

Not until we participated in a street fair and sold food with the intent of making a profit. It took several tries, but we finally got just the right mixture that worked. This video I found on YouTube was the closest thing to our recipe.

We substituted the ground shrimp with ground beef (because it was on sale at our local grocery store) and used equal parts ground pork and ground beef. We added rice wine, which made the shumai pleasantly moist. We heaped filling into the wonton wrapper even if it overflowed and did not close it like in this video. Personally, I find using the bamboo steamer actually adds a bit of flavor to the shumai – although you can always use whatever is readily available to you.

So there you go, your own home made shumai. You can play with the ingredients to suit your taste, but one other thing that will make your shumai the most unforgettable ones your guests have ever had is the sauce.

There are shumai sauces readily available in Asian stores, but it will always be that extra touch you add to it that makes a big difference!

Dimsum can be served as an appetizer or part of an Asian hors d’ oeuvres spread. It will definitely give an Asian flair to your next party.