sequins, curry and banana crumble

i had a very boston moment today. ice puddles formed on the street before my very eyes!!

so what are ways to bring comfort on a day like this in boston? jamaican irie ginger tea with generous honey treatment at darwin's. my once-every-5-months haircut, this time with michelle at james joseph (she wears her own hair assymetrical and purple - i went for the symmetrical look). beginner's flamenco with ramon (a slow, expressive, happy spanish dance with castanets). a sequined black tank from jasmine sola.

and of course, comfort food. i cooked tonight. i made an indian chickpea curry (though i cheated - i used this little unlabeled packet of indian spices i scored at the veggie food fest - check out my old blog for that story). i do need to get me some more of those packets. they rock.

i also saw a few over-ripe bananas on the kitchen table and decided to conjure up a worthy recipe for them. it is my philosophy that no banana should have to live a life of neglect, only to be reluctantly eaten, brown and mushy, by some unhappy person.

banana crumble

fruit:
2-3 ripe bananas, cut lengthwise into thirds
2 tbsp. sugar (white, though i'm sure brown sugar would work, too - i only had white in the house. but don't underestimate the power of white sugar - it can do amazing things.)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla sugar
dash of nutmeg

topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. milk

vanilla sugar for dusting

preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

generously grease a 8x8 square cake pan. lay cut bananas flat to cover the bottom of the pan. sprinkle 2 tbsp. sugar, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, and nutmeg over the bananas.

in a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. cut butter into the dry mixture until texture is crumbly. add milk and knead to combine. roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. punch or cut out shapes (approx. 1.5-2 inches in diameter) and lay shapes on top of bananas in pan. dust with vanilla sugar.

bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until topping is golden brown. serve hot, with vanilla ice cream.

it's not bad. then again, i am always more forgiving when i come up with the recipe myself and there's no one else to blame for failure. :)

(p.s. for a while i thought i had actually invented the banana crumble. there are apple crumbles and blueberry crumbles, but i had never heard of anyone making a banana crumble. however, upon turning on my computer, i promptly googled "banana crumble", and unfortunately it looks like the sugartree inn bed and breakfast has beat me to it. as well as approximately 278,000 others. dammit...there goes another chance for fame, fortune, and legacy)