Basic Treat! Getting the Kela-Raita right!

by Lawrence Obiefule

You know those exams where prior to the moment of examination you have dreams of arriving naked to the venue or forgetting everything you've ever known? I had to be in one recently and it involved the preparation of a mock-tail.

The exam progressed steadily until I saw my exam invigilator who happened to be in charge of the course walking towards me. Well, I'm one of those i-need-space-to-work kinda guy; when I saw her walking towards me I already began to feel her breathing down my neck even though she was about eight feet away at this point. Sheer panic was what followed. With every fiber of my being I mustered up all the self-control I could to focus on what I was doing. Then! It happened.

MISTAKE!!!

She arrived at that moment and asked "dessert or drink which is this?". My heart sank and I began to feel my eyes water. My panic had now turned to confusion! I stuttered a few words and prayed the earth would swallow me as I saw her scoop my preparation with a spoon. Needless to say, the earth didn't budge and the spoon entered her mouth.

What came next was utterly shocking to me. Her lips slowly bent into a smile and then a grin. I was stunned, watching her take another scoop and asking "so. . ., dessert or drink which is this". With that smile came a surge of confidence from an unknown origin. And with that, the wonderful idea that earned me an A for the examination! Talk about serendipitous moment.

My “concoction” turned out to be a drink with large chunks of bananas in it. The idea was that this serving was either a drink or a cold dessert depending on preparation and presentation.

Simply put,  *'kela raita'. A smooth blend of coconut and banana blended using a food processor mixed with cold fresh plain yogurt, sugar, lemon juice and cumin seed give an imperfectly perfect mock-tail to be served chilled. Want to see heaven? Drink this!!!

For the cold more-like-dessert version you'll need the same ingredients. However chop the bananas to bite size and have the coconut grated (alternatively, use desiccated coconut). Serve in a sundae.

There you have it! “as-simple-as-ABC” dessert!

TIP: Whenever you have to work with fruits like apples, bananas or any fruit that turns brown upon exposure to air, have lemon juice available. When the fruit is cut, drizzle the juice onto the fruit, it does well in keeping the colour of the fruit fresh.

PROCEDURE

Things You Will Need (for 6 servings)

Knife

Chopping board

Six sundaes or highball glasses

Tablespoon

Frying pan

Large ripe bananas                                     6

Lemon juice.                                                  1

Cumin seeds                                                  3 tsp

Yoghurt.                                                         1ltr

Freshly grated or desiccated coconut       5tbsp

Salt.                                                                 1tsp

Sugar.                                                             4tsp

As dessert its quite easy.

·         Slice the banana and drizzle lemon juice onto the slices.

·         Shake the cumin seeds constantly on a hot pan until brown and roasted

·         Mix the yogurt with all the other ingredients except the banana

·         Place slices of banana into the yogurt

·         Divide into the sundae, chill and serve.

.

For the mock-tail you'll need a food processor.

·         Blend the coconut and the bananas in the food processor. Better to begin blending the coconut before addition of the bananas. Add the yogurt and sugar

·         Roast the cumin seeds (as described above)

·         Remove the mix from the food processor, add the cumin seed and stir well

·         Served chilled using ice cubes
       Slices of banana can be used as garnish.

*kela raita means Bananas and Yogurt!