Banana split my way | opposite |

Remember this roadhouse treat? It was invented in the US in 1904 and the original recipe has seen a gazillion interpretations since then. Mine has caramel with a pinch of salt in it and I fry my bananas with sugar.

Serves6

Caramel sauce

200 g sugar

100 ml water

50 ml butter

125 ml cream

5 ml salt

Bananas

6 bananas, halved lengthwise with peel on 50 ml butter, melted

100 g (125 ml) brown sugar

5 ml ground cinnamon

50 ml hazelnut liqueur (optional)

1 litre vanilla ice cream

1 aerosol can of whipped cream (yes, I know, but you can’t get nostalgic without it!) 1 handful of hundreds and thousands 1 handful of vanilla cookie crumbs

Place sugar in a pot on the stove and add water and butter. Stir with a wire whisk over low heat until dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until it turns a golden caramel colour, 8-10 minutes. Do not stir while sauce is boiling. Add cream and whisk quickly until smooth. Work carefully, because the caramel mixture is very hot. Allow to cool and add salt. Heat air-fryer on air-fry function to 200°C. Place banana halves in air-fryer basket, pour butter over and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Drizzle liqueur over if you’re using it. Air-fry for 11 minutes or until sugar caramelises. Remove bananas from air-fryer and rest for 5 minutes.

Spoon fried banana out of peels onto plates. Scoop some ice cream on top. Spray dollops of cream all around the ice cream. Pour a generous glug of caramel sauce over and decorate with hundreds and thousands and cookie crumbs. Serve.