My research for this column leads to all sorts of tasty discoveries, some of which become firm family favourites. Today’s recipe is one of these: it takes just minutes to make a big jar full of curd and it tastes heavenly – like a gooey, rich, banana-flavoured dulce de leche. I often eat it straight from the jar, or as a yoghurt-topper, or warm and spread on toast, or drizzled over last week’s brown sugar pavlova, which is a great way to use up whole eggs in one dish, because the whites go into the pavlova and the yolks into the curd. The two are then reunited in an elaborate mess of meringue, curd, whipped cream, flambeed bananas, toasted coconut and date syrup (all of which are optional and/or to taste).
Brown banana curd
This stuff is crazy-delicious and comes with a warning: it is very addictive. It will keep in the fridge for up to a month, though our most recent batch lasted all of three days.
Curd is usually made with citrus fruit, but it also works very well with all kinds of other fruit, including rhubarb, gooseberries and blackberries. Brown bananas are my favourite, however, because they transform into toffee-like deliciousness when combined with melted muscovado sugar. Curd is a great way to use up a surfeit of egg yolks, though it also works with whole eggs.
100g peeled brown banana flesh
50g light muscovado sugar, or other sugar
3 egg yolks, or 2 large whole eggs
50g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract, optional
1 tbsp rum, optional
Mash the banana, then put it in a saucepan with the sugar and cook on a medium-high heat, stirring, for five minutes, until the mix starts to bubble and brown a little. Turn down the heat to very low, then whisk in the egg yolks and carry on cooking on a low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan with a spatula, until the curd bubbles and thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, or reaches 75C.
Take off the heat, then stir in the butter and, if using, the vanilla extract and rum.
Pour the curd into a sterilised jar, leave to cool (assuming you can resist the temptation of the warm curd), then seal and refrigerate.
