Activity Centre

Method:

• Peel the bananas and slice them into diamond shapes. Chill them.
• Melt chocolate in a microwave at 60°C for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Meanwhile dry roast almonds, cashew nuts and walnuts on low heat till crisp. Cool slightly and put in a mixer jar.
• Add pistachios to the hot pan and let them dry. Add to the rest of the nuts in the mixer jar.
• Remove the chocolate from the microwave and whisk it till it is smooth.
• Grind the nuts coarsely and transfer into a bowl. Add desiccated coconut and mix well.
• Pick up each banana piece with a fork, dip in chocolate, roll in the nut-coconut mixture till well coated and place on a silicon sheet. Some pieces can be just dipped only in chocolate and kept on the sheet. You can sprinkle a little of the nut-coconut mixture over some of these.
• Keep in a refrigerator to set.
• Serve chilled.
• Recipe for children by Sanjeev Kapoor, Master Chef, Author and Television Host. E-mail: enquiry@sanjeevkapoor.com

Did You Know?
The modern pistachio nut was first cultivated in Western Asia, where it has long been an important crop in cooler parts of Iran. Pistachios have been a part of the human diet at least since the late Paleolithic era. More recently, pistachio has been cultivated commercially in the English speaking world, in Australia, New Mexico and in California, USA where it was introduced in 1854 as a garden tree. Each pistachio tree averages around 50kgs of seeds or around 50,000 seeds every two years. Pistachio is a desert plant and is highly tolerant of saline soil.