Banana Chicken Recipes

EASY BANANA CHICKEN

Steps:

• Wash chicken breasts and dip them in oil.
• Mash bananas.
• Arrange chicken on a baking sheet and cover each piece with banana.
• You can garnish this with almost any spice imaginable--popular ethnic ones are paprika, coriander, poppyseeds, or cinnamon.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until chicken reaches internal temperature of 165 degrees.

MOROCCAN-SPICED CHICKEN IN BANANA LEAF

Steps:

• Prepare a grill for medium heat.
• In a large bowl, mix together the crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, olives, cardamon, garlic, carrots, bell pepper, onion, 1 tablespoon of the granulated garlic, 1/4 teaspoon of the cayenne and 1 teaspoon salt. Add to a cast-iron pan and put on the grill over direct heat. Bring to a rapid boil, close the lid and boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
• Toss the chicken pieces in a bowl with the olive oil, then add the ras el hanout, cumin, cinnamon, remaining 1 tablespoon granulated garlic, remaining 1/4 teaspoon cayenne and 1 teaspoon salt and mix until uniformly covered.
• Arrange the banana leaves on a baking sheet. Place 2 to 3 pieces of chicken on each leaf. With a slotted spoon or fork, cover the chicken with the sauce. Sprinkle a teaspoon each of the lemon zest and cilantro on top of each portion. Fold each banana leaf like an envelope and secure with cook's twine or toothpicks.
• Place the baking sheet with the banana envelopes on the grill over direct heat and cook until the chicken is cooked through but still juicy, 30 to 35 minutes. Serve immediately.

CHICKEN AND BANANA CURRY

Steps:

• For the marinade: Combine the yogurt, cilantro, ginger, garlic and some salt and pepper in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Pour the marinade into a large resealable bag. Rinse and pat dry the chicken and place in the bag with marinade. Mix around and refrigerate for 24 hours.
• For the chicken: Add the almonds to a pan over medium-high heat. Keep stirring until the nuts become golden in color, 7 to 10 minutes. Once they toast, remove from the pan and set aside.
• Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for until golden, 2 minutes. Throw in the onions and saute for 8 more minutes. Remove the onions and set aside, reserving the oil.
• Wipe down the marinated chicken and cut into bite-size pieces. Pour the flour on a plate and mix in a big pinch of salt and freshly cracked pepper. Toss the chicken pieces in the flour to lightly coat. Fry the chicken over medium heat in the same pan and oil as you cooked the onions, until golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
• For the curry sauce: Heat a small pan over medium heat. Add the hot curry powder and stir often until fragrant about 30 seconds. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 1/2 cups water, the toasted curry spice, raisins, chutney, brown sugar, turmeric, lemon juice and the toasted almonds. Stir and bring to a simmer.
• Whisk together the stock and flour in a measuring cup to make a thickener, and then pass through a sieve to remove any flour chunks.
• Add the thickener to the curry sauce and mix well. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the sauteed onions and garlic, the crisped chicken and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 30 minutes.
• Ladle some chicken curry onto a plate and serve with sliced ripe bananas and sweet shredded coconut.

JERK CHICKEN WITH PICKLED BANANAS

Steps:

• In a small skillet, toast the coriander and cumin seeds over medium heat, shaking the pan, until fragrant, 2 minutes. Let cool, then grind in a spice grinder until pulverized.
• Add to a large bowl along with all other marinade ingredients (everything but the chicken). Add 1 cup water and whisk to combine. Alternatively, working in two batches, place all marinade ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 2 or 3 times to combine.
• Place chicken in a large container big enough for all pieces plus marinade. Reserve 3/4 cup marinade for later use, and pour remaining marinade over the chicken. Refrigerate 1 or 2 days (chicken can be stored for up to 5 days).
• Prepare the pickled bananas: Add all ingredients except for the bananas to a nonreactive saucepan and boil over high, 10 minutes. Chill completely. Once brine is chilled, peel and slice the bananas on the bias. Add to the brine and chill, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
• Heat grill to medium-low. Remove chicken from marinade and temper at room temperature for 15 minutes. Place chicken on the grill, skin-side down. Every minute or so, rotate the chicken a half turn so that the skin develops a deep, dark mahogany char and has been slightly crisped and rendered, 8 to 10 minutes total.
• Turn chicken over to finish cooking, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, skin side up. Brush the reserved marinade on the skin side. Remove bananas from brine and serve with jerk chicken.

BANANA CHICKEN STEW

Steps:

• In a saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a low boil. Slice the celery ribs down the center, then chop into thin pieces and add to the stock. Allow the celery to cook 5-10 minutes, or until it becomes tender. Turn off the heat and set aside.
• Place a large stockpot over medium heat and add the olive oil. When warm add the cubed chicken and cook through, allowing the bits to become slightly golden. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken (reserve aside in a bowl).
• After removing the chicken, add the chopped onion to stockpot. Cook until the onion is beginning to turn golden, then add the garlic and cook for another minute. You're ready to add the bananas! Just slice the bananas into manageable chunks then plop them into the onion/garlic goodness. Use a fork or a potato masher to break down the bananas. There will probably be some lumps--that's perfectly fine.
• Once mashed, add the spices and seasonings (ginger, thyme, rosemary, cayenne, salt and pepper). Make sure to start small and add more to taste. Remember that while you can always *add* more cayenne its near-impossible to remove!
• Let the newly-spiced banana mixture warm for a minute then add the milk, garbanzo beans, and reserved cooked chicken. Once this is thoroughly mixed, also add the reserved celery and chicken stock and the butter. All the kiddies should now be in the pool. Bring this up to a very low boil, and if necessary allow it to reduce until the liquid has a texture that is slightly creamy.
• Serve warm over rice.

FRAGRANT SPICED CHICKEN WITH BANANA SAMBAL

Steps:

• Put the onions in a food processor with the garlic and ginger. Blitz until it is as smooth as possible, then pour in half the stock and blitz again.
• Heat a large non-stick pan, sprinkle in the spices and toast for 1 min. Pour in the onion mixture, the remaining stock and all but ½ tsp of the chopped chilli. Add the almonds and tomato purée, and stir well. Simmer for 35 mins until completely soft, stirring every now and then and adding a little water if the mixture starts to catch on the bottom of the pan.
• Add the chicken and half the fresh coriander. Heat very gently for 10 mins to cook the chicken through. Mix all the sambal ingredients with the remaining coriander and chilli, and heat the rice following pack instructions. Serve the chicken and sambal with the brown rice.