After a bit of research, it seems that American Samoa, like a lot of other pacific island nations, favours bold, simple dishes with lots of flavour and little fuss. I was originally going to make a fish and coconut soup, but was assured in no uncertain terms that Samoans like their fish on the bone, with the head still attached, so they can taste every bit of the fish. Whilst I'm not that fussy with what I eat, I still can't bring myself to do the whole fish-staring-at-me-from-the-bowl thing. So I didn't feel I could do that dish justice. Bananas however have neither bones or eyes...When is a soup not a soup? That is a question I asked myself when making this dish, which reminds me more of sago pudding from my school days, either that or the brains of a zombie... (And today's brand new - to me, anyway - ingredient is tapioca, which I've often eaten from a tin, but never cooked with from scratch. Who knew it looked like polystyrene packing balls in it's uncooked state?)
Either way, it's a simple, brilliant sweet dish that tastes brilliant when served chilled. I could have eaten it all day...
