Koba and Calle 13

[asakiyume]

I've seen banana leaves on banana trees, so I know they're big, but somehow I was still amazed to thaw out a package of them and see how they take over a kitchen, like really large caterpillars or space snakes.





I used some of them to make koba, a Malagasy sweet:

in the pot, getting ready to be steamed


finished product


I've never had the real thing, so I don't know how well mine approximated it, but it *looked* right, and it tasted good.

... Eating food from faraway places is one way to bring them a little closer.

Music is another great way. This song, "Latinoamérica," by Calle 13, is powerful stuff (I'm on a Calle 13 kick right now), and the video is just incredibly beautiful, showing faces of people from all over Latin America. At the start, the radio announcer switches from Spanish to Quecha, and about two-thirds of the way through, the chorus gets sung in Portuguese. Powerful stuff.

"Calle 13 - Latinoamérica" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[sovay]

koba, a Malagasy sweet

I mean, that looks amazing.

rushthatspeaks and once made gadon tahu steamed in banana leaves; it was excellent, surprisingly fast, and banana leaves are in fact kitchen-eating.

[kore]

Oh, that song is great!

[sonia]

Wow, what a beautiful video! "No puedes comprar el sol, no puedes comprar la lluvia!" I like how the movements continued from one image to the next.

I'm glad your sweets turned out, too.

[mrissa]

Good heavens those LEAVES.

[mallorys_camera]

Very impressed by your culinary experimentation! :-)

[osprey_archer]

What's in the koba? What does it taste like?

It looks like it would be a great food for street festivals; it comes with it's own wrapping as part of the cooking process.

[okrablossom]

Oh, thank you!

[amaebi]

Awesome!

[cmcmck]

Yum! :o)

[sartorias]

Wow, wow, wow. While the music unfortunately didn't do anything for me, it was a profound experience watching the video in silence--it was so beautifully put together, faces and movements segueing into each other, choreographed with such care. Amazing.

The banana leaves look interesting, though I'd be too chicken to eat them. I wonder what other uses they are put to.

[minoanmiss]

*alugh at myself* The banana leaves made me cry unexpectedly with nostalgia. Not that they're used much for cooking in Jamaica (the slow barbecuing that used to be done in banana leaves is now done by other methods) but I remember banana trees and their massive beautiful leaves from my childhood.. I remember just standing beneath and stroking the leaves, the tactile experience..

You always bring us so much beauty. Thank you.

[queenoftheskies]

Dang, those ARE big.

[zyzyly]

That looks pretty good! Banana leaves are so versatile.