Sautéed Baby Bananas with Sour Cream, Spearmint, Chili and Lime

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 limes
1 tablespoon/about 1 g dried spearmint (also known as yerba buena)
1 tablespoon/15 g turbinado sugar
1/2 small dried red chili (such as chili de árbol), stemmed, chopped
1/2 cup/120 g sour cream
3 tablespoons/45 g unsalted butter
8 slightly less ripened baby bananas, peeled, halved lengthwise
1 tablespoon/15 g plus 1/3 cup/65 g sugar
1/2 cup/110 ml dark rum

Method:

Grate the zest from the limes then squeeze enough juice from the limes to equal 2 teaspoons/10 ml.   Using a mortar and pestle, crush the grated lime zest, spearmint, turbinado sugar, and chili until finely ground.  Add the lime juice and continue to grind to form a paste consistency.  Add the lime mixture to the sour cream in a small bowl and stir to blend.

Cover the sour cream mixture and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Melt 1 tablespoon/15 g of butter in a heavy large sauté pan over medium-high heat.  Add the bananas cut side down.   Sprinkle 1 tablespoon/20g of sugar over the bananas and cook for 2 minutes per side, or until the sugar dissolves and the bananas are pale golden and soften just slightly.

Divide the fried bananas among 4 serving plates.  Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons/30 g of butter in the same pan over medium heat.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup/65 g of sugar over the butter and stir for 2 minutes, or until the sugar melts and becomes amber brown.

Remove the pan from the heat.  Carefully add the rum to the pan off of the heat to prevent the rum from flambéing (the mixture will bubble vigorously and the melted sugar will harden).  Stir off of the heat for 2 minutes, or until the sugar is almost dissolved and the alcohol from the rum has cooked off.

Simmer the sauce over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until the sugar dissolves completely and the sauce thickens slightly.  Drizzle the sauce over and around the bananas on the plates. Place a large spoonful of the sour cream mixture on each plate and serve.