Rasaayan is a very popular dish among Saraswats. It is also made with mango, honey-dew/musk melon and other sweet fruit.
Recipe credit: Darshana Muzumdar
Serves 4-6 as part of a traditional Indian meal.
Ingredients for Banana Rasaayan
- 6 ripe bananas
- 1/4 cup grated jaggery (use more or less as per sweetness of fruit and your preference)
- 1/2 (1 packed cup) fresh ripe coconut to yield 250 ml thick first extract
- 3-4 cardamoms
Method
To make the coconut milk:
- Wash, break the coconut into two and grate all of it. Note: The riper the coconut the harder is the coconut flesh. This kind of coconut gives more milk and it is tastier too.
- Soak the grated coconut in enough hot water to just about cover the surface of the coconut. The soaking in hot water helps in removing more milk and more easily.
- Grind the soaked coconut finely when it is no longer hot and empty it into a damp muslin cloth kept over a pot. Squeeze the milk out.
- Add water and grind the leftover once again and keep this milk separately. You can use this second extract to make buttermilk by adding lime juice and salt or to make a sol kadhi.
To make the Rasaayan:
- Peel the bananas and cut them lengthwise first and then into thin slices.
- Add the grated jaggery and mix gently taking care not to break the slices.
- Rest this mixture till the jaggery dissolves completely. Alternatively, add the jaggery to the coconut milk and let it rest till all the jaggery is dissolved.
- Powder the cardamom.
- Add the first extract of the coconut milk and powdered cardamom to completely immerse all the banana slices.
- This can be eaten at room temperature but tastes better if it is chilled for at least 4 hours.
For the Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) version:
- Use a less ripe coconut or a tender coconut with a little harder coconut flesh. Use the ground flesh of this coconut without straining it. You will need to grind it really really fine otherwise the fibre may not give a good feel to the dish.
- Use date or raisin paste instead of jaggery.
