Hi, Foodies in the Hive!

What foods are on your list of ideal subjects to experiment with in the kitchen? As someone who is somehow sensible to gluten, without a doubt, plantains & bananas are in my top 10. With a little time and patience, you'll see, if you haven't already, that they are just perfect for your #creativecuisine.

Today I want to share with you the result of one of my little experiments in the kitchen: topocho banana hotcakes. Pretty much pancakes made with cooked ripe topocho flesh instead of wheat flour with a twist here and there.

I've made quite a few experiments with topocho bananas. The last recipe I shared was for plant based turnovers made with topocho dough.

And I always bring your attention to the many benefits of this fruit for our overall health,as they are rich in vitamin C and also are a good source for vitamins A and B; its fiber and resistant starch help us digest our whole meal better; as plantains and bananas in general, topochos are also a valuable source of potassium, perfect for us who has not the best circulation.

They're known as rare and most websites I've checked have it that they are popular in Colombia (where they're called colicero bananas), but you must know, topocho is a staple in Venezuela, too.

The hotcakes I made today are the kind that you can use with sweet or savory fillings even when they are sweet and have a tiny hint of vanilla.

INGREDIENTS

For 1 kg of batter approx.:

500 gr cooked ripe topocho bananas
1/2 cups egg whites
1/2 cups egg (2 medium size eggs approx.)
4 spoonfuls sugar
1/2 cups yogurt
1/3 melted margarine
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
just a few drops vanilla essence
2 spoonfuls cornstarch
4 spoonfuls mozzarella cheese
a little oil to fry only the first hotcake (the rest will roast, just as with pancakes or crepes)

Cheese & whatever leftovers in your fridge. I had stewed black beans and guacamole from yesterday's lunch 😁

THE PROCESS

To make these hotcakes, I started by washing the bananas well, as they were going to cook in their peel. Then I cut the edges of the bananas and made a superficial cut lengthwise to help them cook faster and be peeled more easily. I put the topocho bananas in a pot big enough and covered them with water. After the water boiled, they cooked for a couple of minutes. Then I drained them.

I peeled them all after 3 or 4 minutes when the had cooled.

I weighed them. There was 1.2 kg. I'd use half of that.

I sliced 600 gr of topocho bananas directly over the blender glass.

Then I added all the ingredients, except the mozzarella cheese and the cornstarch; the latter I could've added, but I didn't for no particular reason. The order to add the ingredients in the glass was not important.

The lemon juice would add flavor and aroma; it'd enhance the acidic hint the bananas had begun to lose as they ripened. And as it reacted with baking soda, it'd help the batter take more air and become lighter once it cooked.

I didn't have liquid margarine or clarified butter, nor did I want to use oil because it makes the batter heavier, so I simply melted the margarine I needed in a pot.

More egg whites than whole eggs makes the batter take more air. Yolks make the batter softer but also denser. So I used some extra egg whites I had in the fridge.

When I was adding the sugar, I thought about the fillings I would use and stopped when I had added like two tablespoons or less. And you can't see it in the photo, but when I added the yogurt, I also added all the serum; it was like 3 or 4 tablespoons. It was part of the yogurt anyway, and it helped my blender process the whole mixture a little easier.

I had to scrape the walls of the blender glass as the blender was working because the topochos made a dense mixture.

After the mixture was homogeneous, which took only a couple of minutes, I added the shredded mozzarella and the cornstarch I had forgotten to add before.

Below you can see the resulting batter.

There was enough mix for 10 hotcakes. I saved half of it and store it in the fridge in an airtight container.

Only some drops of oil are needed to fry the first hotcake. As you can see, you must be careful when flipping it, lest it break and half of it remains on the spatula. Mess.

See the thin film that forms on the surface. If you cook the hotcake for a long time or at very high heat, it burns easily. So the best is to cook it 1 or 2 minutes on each side over medium heat.