This gives a tray of dense chewy candy, fragrant with ripe banana, studded with roasted peanuts and white sesame. Shredded ginger added during cooking leaves a warm finish and keeps it from cloying.
The hardest part is judging the texture, since an underdone batch stays sloppy and an overdone one cannot be cut. Cook for about 30 minutes over medium heat, then lower it and stir until the mixture pulls into a single mass. Choose bananas ripened naturally, as bruised fruit gives a soft candy.
This batch weighs about 772g, at roughly 262 calories per 100g.
Method
Peel 4 bananas, about 440g, pull off the strings, cut them into pieces and mash them with a fork.
Mix 135g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend into the bananas, stir thoroughly and leave for about 15 minutes.
Peel 1 piece of fresh ginger, wash it, cut it into fine shreds and soak them in cold water for about 15 minutes, then lift them out and squeeze them dry.
Roast 100g peanuts over low heat until golden and fragrant, cool them and rub off the skins. Toast 50g white sesame seeds until golden as well.
Set a pot over medium heat, add the mashed banana and the shredded ginger and cook for about 5 minutes, then add 3 to 4 teaspoons lime juice.
Cook for about 30 minutes more. When the mixture thickens, lower the heat and stir until the candy is dense and chewy.
Stir in the roasted peanuts and sesame seeds, tip the mixture into a mold and spread it flat, let it cool, then cut it into bite sized pieces.
Tips
Look for a bunch with both yellow and greener fruit, where the skins are slightly wrinkled with dark spots, which marks naturally ripened bananas.
Skip any bruised or overly soft fruit, since it makes the candy sloppy.
Stir constantly through the second half of the cooking, as the mixture thickens and catches on the bottom quickly.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so stir the bananas again 5 minutes after mixing.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend does not turn caramel colored, and the brown of the candy comes from the long cooking of the bananas, so judge the texture rather than waiting for a color change.
Parchment in the mold and a lightly oiled knife keep the candy from sticking when cutting.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.