This epic sweet and salty combination came about after the ice cream machine in Anderson's restaurant Nambam broke down and he had to whip up a quick and easy solution to fill the void on the dessert menu. In the words of the chef, it's a "stupid easy" and "stupid good" dessert – so you can't go wrong, right?
Make Tim Anderson's miso butterscotch banana split
Japan meets America in this umami-laced, super simple but indulgent dessert from Nanbam founder and Japaneasy cookbook writer Tim Anderson
Serves 4
Preparation time 15 mins
Cooking time 8 mins
Ingredients
- 100g dark brown sugar
- 25g butter
- 30g miso (I like a dark miso for this recipe, but any will do)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 200ml double (heavy) cream
- 25ml dark rum
- 4 bananas
- 8-12 scoops of dulce de leche or cinnamon ice cream
- 25g walnuts, roughly chopped
- 25g peanuts, roughly chopped
For the crispy noodles
- 1 portion of fresh ramen or egg noodles
- oil, for shallow-frying
Method
- To make the miso butterscotch, melt the brown sugar and butter together in a deep saucepan over a medium heat. Whisk in the miso, breaking up lumps with the whisk, then add the vanilla and half the cream. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat.
- To make the crispy noodles, heat about 1cm oil in a pan over a medium-high heat, then add the noodles, a few at a time. Cook until golden brown and crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
- Whisk the remaining cream together with the rum until soft peaks form. Assemble the sundae by splitting the bananas lengthways down the middle, then topping with the ice cream, walnuts, peanuts, miso butterscotch, rum cream and crispy fried noodles.
From Japaneasy: Classic and Modern Japanese Recipes to Cook at Home by Tim Anderson; photograph by Laura Edwards. Published by Hardie Grant.
