A Different Take on Banana: Banana Parcels

I practised making loads of these Lepat Pisang, or Banana Parcels when I was taking Home-Science classes in high-school. Back then, once you get to secondary school (equivalent to high school in the States),  students will be placed in either one of the two available mainstream categories: Home-Science where they'd be taught the basics of food, cooking, sewing and craftwork or Commerce where they'd get a glimpse into the ever-so intriguing world of debits and credits. Which category you end up in was not so much a matter of direct, conscious choice. Come to think of it, a lot of important education and career-related decisions were pretty much "made" for us, not by ourselves or our parents but rather, by the sadly flawed and seriously discriminative education system of my home country which to me, has back-fired and created huge brain drain much more than the government cares to admit. Anyway, this post is not to gripe about the Malaysian education system. I am actually thankful for without the moutainous hurdles, the social and educational inequalities against minorities, I would not have resolved to complete my higher education in USA, graduating with honors, working hard, earning good living, paying property and income taxes to a country that I now proudly call my (new) home today. A country that appreciates talents, honors individuality, welcomes creative innovation and provides an environment that allows any determined person hungry for success to thrive. Most importantly, if it wasn't for the double-standards, I would not have learnt to make these banana parcels!
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Lepat Pisang or Banana Parcel, is a type of steamed (read: healthy) banana dessert that's usually eaten with afternoon tea or as a snack. It's somewhat similar to a banana pudding kicked up several notches with the inclusion of coconut flakes for added texture, salt to balance the sweetness, flour to provide that soft, chewy, pudding-like comfort in a bite, with wonderful aroma from the banana and screwpine leaves they are steamed in! Steaming can be versatile and need not be limited to fish or vegetables only. Steaming food in aromatic leaves not only enhances its flavor but gives one the pleasurable experience of unwrapping the parcel, layer after layer, heightening one's longing and equally, the ultimate satisfaction when the delight inside is finally revealed (and devoured, of course). If you can't find banana leaves, fear not. You can use shallow sauce-bowls or even ramekins. I would, however, have to insist on the use of screwpine leaves, the leaves of the Pandanus plant. It does have such glorious aroma and married with the sweet steamed bananas, adds that element - the fifth dimension, if you will, to the dessert. Try it with and without. You'll understand what I mean.

Banana Parcels

Ingredients (makes ~ 7-8 2" x 4" parcels)
2 bananas, ripened
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 screwpine (pandan) leaf, cut into 1 1/2" strips
Banana leaves for wrapping, cut into 6" x 12" rectangles

Method:
Heat water and place steamer over the hot bath.
1. Peel and mash the bananas with a fork
2. Sift in flour
3. Mix the salt and coconut flakes; add into the banana-flour mixture
4. Place a cut banana leaf rectangle on a flat surface. Layer a piece of the cut screwpine leaf in the middle.

5. Spoon ~ 3 tablespoons of the banana mixture on the banana leaf, right on top of the screwpine strip

6. Starting from the bottom, fold the leaf gently over the mixture. Keep folding (2-3 times) until you get an elongated tube.

7. Fold in the sides, both left and right and tuck under.

8. Place on steamer with the folded side down; the weight of the banana parcel will keep the sides from opening.
*don't worry if the banana leaf tears; just cut smaller pieces and fold over the torn part.
9. Place the parcels into steamer and steam for ~ 15-20 minutes or until the parcel is firm to touch.
10. Remove from steamer, allow to cool and serve the entire parcel (banana leaf and all) as is. Let your guests enjoy the pleasure of unwrapping the dessert!

I am glad that I kept this hand-written recipe book from my Home-Science days. I couldn't for the life of me understand back then why we had to spent hours copying recipes from textbooks we already owned. Instead of cooking directly from the book, where everything had been neatly printed, measurements and illustrative diagrams listed, the teachers would earmark recipes that need to be copied, gave that to us as "homework", then us poor students would diligently transfer those recipes word for word, by hand, to our own recipe manuscript. No photocopying or God forbid, any form of typewriters or word processors! The objective was to fill up the blank pages of your book with recipes from the textbook, as many as you possibly can. The teacher would then review (yeah right, as though she has time to check every single manuscript that her 20-30 students submit!), even initial and date just as proof of the review. None of this ridiculous and repetitive act made much sense. I don't remember recipes just because I had to copy them word for word. Filling up the blank pages with the exact recipes from another book was just a different way for me to practise my handwriting. I must say, I do have pretty nice handwriting. I also own Word, Pages and a multitude of other word processors today. *Shrug*
Having said all that, I'm sure the Malaysian education system has its own merits. I, for one, am beginning to appreciate this hand-written recipe manuscript of mine from 20+ years ago. Sparse as it may be (I was pretty defiant and resisted, to the extent I could, the monotonous act of hand-copying) this dog-eared, yellowed manuscript of mine is simply a reminder of how far I have come.