Akwadu — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Sweet ripe bananas baked with coconut cream, citrus juice, and a dusting of cinnamon until caramelized and bubbling. A tropical dessert of elegant simplicity.

Ingredients

6 ripe bananas
200ml coconut cream
3 tbsp brown sugar
Juice of 2 oranges
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp shredded coconut
1 tbsp butter or coconut oil

Instructions

1 Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a baking dish with butter or coconut oil.
2 Peel the bananas and cut them in half lengthwise. Arrange them cut-side up in a single layer in the baking dish.
3 Mix the coconut cream with orange juice, lime juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl until well combined.
4 Pour the coconut-citrus mixture evenly over the bananas. Sprinkle the shredded coconut on top.
5 Bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes until the bananas are soft, the sauce is bubbling, and the coconut is lightly toasted.
6 Serve warm directly from the baking dish. The caramelized sauce becomes a rich, tropical syrup.

Did You Know?

Akwadu is one of the few traditional Central African desserts, as most meals in the region end with fresh tropical fruit rather than a prepared sweet course.