I hope you're all feeling happy and healthy 💚

Have you tried plantain/banana based doughs? Topocho banana doughs are definitely worth trying. Topochos are halfway between a banana and a plantain; their texture is starchy and their flavor, slightly sweet and acidic. The ones I used today have begun to ripen, so they were a little sweeter, which is just nice as I didn't need to add any sugar.

Today I want to share with you my recipe for this topocho banana dough seasoned with hot chili pepper, cinnamon and coconut milk, with which I made some very tasty gluten-free turnovers filled with avocado and corn kernels.

We had these for breakfast, and I can tell you they go down very well in the stomach and sustain you for hours and hours 😁

See those topocho bananas in the background?

Well, Those are from my comadre's backyard. She's been growing topocho bananas for a couple of years now, and she always has a good bunch for me.

As I've said before, topocho bananas are a staple in my hometown. You can buy them in the public market, and sometimes, in supermarkets too. They are a good source of starch and fiber, potassium, and vitamin C; this means they're good for our digestion, our blood sugar and good health in general.

When still unripe, topochos are a favorite to cook in soup; they make the broth a little milky and thick. I have used them to make gluten-free flatbreads and tostones, chocolate cake, muffins, bread cake, etc. I do a lot of things in the kitchen with this food. They're good to substitute other flours, specially corn flour and wheat flour, so popular in Venezuela.

Topocho bananas are good raw or cooked, green or ripe, for savory or sweet dishes, as a side, main dish, or dessert. They are such good fellows in the kitchen. You just need to give them a chance if you haven't done so yet.

INGREDIENTS

For the dough:

• 500 gr peeled and boiled topocho bananas
• 1 cup hot chili pepper
• 1 tablespoon freshly crushed garlic
• 1/2 cup homemade coconut milk
• 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil to sautee the chili and garlic
• salt to taste

For the filling:

• 1 cup of avocado that you mistakenly cut when it hadn't yet ripened 🙊
• 1/2 cup corn kernels you've been meaning to use 🙈
• a spoonful of margarine
• salt to taste

LET'S GET TO WORK 😁

First of all, we must wash the topochos well because we're cooking them in their peel.

Wash the topochos well, cut off both ends, and make a superficial longitudinal cut; this way, the they'll cook faster and will also be easier to peel once they're cooked. Put them in a pot with enough water to cover them and a little salt. After cooking at maximum heat for about 6 minutes, they'll be done. Then you can take them out of the water and wait a couple of minutes for them to lose a little heat so you can handle them. Remove the peels and place them inside a plastic bag.

Press the topochos with your fist and fingers, taking care not to break the bag. Soon you will see how it will become a raisin. Try to make the dough as smooth as possible without paying too much attention to the smallest lumps.

It won't take you but a couple of minutes.

Here you can get an idea of the size of the bag I used. It's one of those for pita bread.

Time to season this dough.

At this point, you could use it for arepas or tortillas, but the coconut milk will help make it smoother and better for turnovers.

I used some nice chilies I found in the store; I had no idea they were hot. It's always a nice surprise for me 😉. I used homemade coconut milk I had in the fridge, which is good to perfume the dough and make it smooth.

It had a good coat of fat, which was good to make the dough keep its moist, ideal to air-fry 😋

Remove the pedicels and the excess of seeds and cut out the veins of the hot chili pods (leave them if your guests don't care for a good extra spice). Peel and crush the garlic cloves.

It's time to sautee the chili and garlic in a little coconut oil. Add the coconut milk and a cinnamon stick to enhance the natural sweetness of the dough. Stir for a minute and remove from the fire.

Let it cool a little.

Remove the cinnamon stick and mix it with the dough.

You can finish mashing the topocho dough with a fork. It'll help you incorporate the chili and coconut mix as well.

The dough will turn more and more manageable as you gently knead it.

At this point, it was time for me to do something about that unripe avocado 😩

I decided to make a simple filling for the turnovers. I shredded it, which I must say had my husband give a weird look, haha. You don't just shred avocado around here. You wait until they ripen and turn creamy and slice it. Period. I must say I wasn't sure about how this filling would turn out. In the end it was good, fortunately.

I fried the avocado in margarine and then added the frozen corn kernels and salt. That was it.

It was ready to go inside the topocho dough.

MAKING THE TURNOVERS

I made these ones bigger. I pre-cooked them in the hot pan. Then they went into the air-fryer at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.

This is how I assembled them.

Use a sheet of plastic wrap (I cut and reused a pita bag) to cover the surface of the counter and also the surface of the dough. This will help you control the thickness and extension of the sheet of dough. Put the filling to the side and close.

Use the plastic film to control the shape. Gently press the borders with the tip of your fingers.

As I told you before, I pre-cooked the turnovers in the hot pan and then transferred them to the air-fryer where they cooked for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. I did it this way to make them look more golden without rubbing them with oil.

As always, I hope you have found this post useful 😁

Bon appetite!

All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY for all them.

Thank you so much for your visit :)

Banner by @andresromero 🖤