Banana Macadamia Nuts & Chocolate Souffle

Once in a rare rare while, all the forces come together and make everything gel together so effortlessly that you are tempted to believe that you could possibly be a genius...

At the risk of sounding shameless, that was exactly how I felt last night when I made this as a last minute push to generate my second post of the week before I fly off to Bangkok for the rest of the week. Amidst all the commitment at work, I only had time to bake and photograph this while Ugly Betty was airing over TV last night....
This being a new recipe for me and for the infamously temperamental Souffle at that, I was very very apprehensive. Unsure if it would rise or if it would retain its form after baking, I had to take a few precautions. I chose to work with minimum fuss, using the most sturdy cookbook I could find on my shelf as the only setting prop and had my camera mounted on standby. While waiting for the butter to soften, I even did a few dry run shots with the empty ramekins just to figure out how I could position the souffles... if they behave. When working with a souffle, always bear in mind, the souffle waits for no one, you have to be ready for it.

Unlike the last souffle I made, this one took longer to rise in the oven and had me worried for quite awhile.
I had to extend the baking time to brown it properly and when I took it out of the oven, I wasn't sure if it was done.

Working quickly to transfer these to my 'photo set',I proceeded to click quickly, fearing all the while that the airy foam would collapse on me. Luckily, for about 10-15mins these babies held their form for me. You can actually see them receding in the photos.. the first shot above was how they looked when they were just out of the oven. By the time I reached the last shot, they looked like this :




By the time I finished my last shot, Ugly Betty had just saved Daniel from the cult group and all was well. Only then,did I savour my first spoonful of the rushed effort. I suppose with bananas, chocolates and macadamia nuts it could never taste bad even if the souffle flops on you- it was awesome!

So, who is afraid of La Souffle??


Recipe
Meringue
Egg White            100g
Castor Sugar        40g

Base
Ripe Banana        300g
Chocolate Chips  20g
Macadamia         20g (chopped)

Method:

1. Peheat oven to 170C. Butter and sugar coat ramekins thoroughly.
2. Grate banana and set aside. (my banana actually ended looking more mashed than grated.)
3. Whisk egg white and castor sugar until stiff peaks are formed.
4. Fold bananas, chocolate chips and nuts into (3), working gently to avoid deflating the meringue.
5. Spoon or pipe (4) into ramekins. Using your thumb, go around the rim of the ramekin to clean up the edge of the ramekin.
6. Bake for 8-10mins until browned. (I baked for 15 mins)