Sunday 1 July 2012

Comfort Food

Who doesn't need comfort food? Own up if you don't, you will be put on a pedestal and displayed in Trafalgar Square. We all have something we love. Be it a glass of wine, a creamy latte, a bar of chocolate, a large packet of crisps or even a bowl of fruit. My brother, the healthiest eater I know, loves his After Eights, my husband goes for maltesers or a Caffe Nero Hot Chocolate and mine is...
Carob banana with all the trimmings...
You what?
Yes, for the last few years we have been perfecting this. For many years I could not eat sugar, if I did I had the worst indigestion ever imagined- sometimes the physical stress was bad enough to bring on a seizure. As this improved and I began to eat fruit again banana became my fruit of choice.
The Carob became my love as soon as I was given this restricted diet at the age of 18. It was the only alternative to chocolate available. I had to eat the sugar-free kind and only occasionally as it too could become addictive.
It soon became apparent that by melting this it was even yummier and spreading it on oatcakes was (and still is) divine. Eating them warm or saving them until later has been my main-stay for most of our married life- we perfected it with our microwave.
Over the BBQ my Mum used to wrap bananas in foil having filled them with various types of chocolate drops, nuts, raisins. As we were eating the main course the bananas would warm up and all the additions would mix in together. This was the inspiration for my ultimate sugar-free comfort:
Flakes of Carob poked into a peeled banana and microwaved for 10-20 seconds at a time, until it begins to melt.
Then place in bowl and spoon lashings of natural yoghurt around the sides and break up two or three oatcakes into small pieces as a final flourish to add a crunch.
So there is heat and coolness, crunch and smoothness, tart and sweetness all in one bowl. Comfort all round.
Finish it off with a mug of red-bush tea with a little milk and I'm all set for an evening on the sofa.

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