Banana soufflés

Making soufflés is something of a knack but it's one you can pick up with a little practice.

The main thing is not to make your mixture too thin - so if your first attempt at this collapses, you could try adding extra cornflour next time.

This recipe is cheap enough to use to practice and in any case a collapsed soufflé tastes just fine.

As I've suggested on another occasion in this column, all you've got to do is give it an unpronounceable name and claim that it's a dish typical of some remote region of Azerbaijan.

However, the main reasons they collapse are (a) opening the oven and peeping prematurely - so be patient! And (b) not serving it straight away when it comes out of the oven, so timing is all-important.

Once you've mastered it, you can replace the banana with any other stewed or mashed fruit, but remember the consistency of the banana and don't use fruit which is sloppier.

Ingredients

1 tbsp caster sugar, plus a little extra for lining the bowls.

55g/2oz light brown sugar

1 tbsp cornflour

Half tsp cinnamon

125ml/4fl oz milk

4 eggs, separated

140g/5oz mashed banana

What to do

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Mark 5.

Grease 4 small oven-proof bowls - ramekins are ideal - then sprinkle them lightly with caster sugar.

Mix together the brown sugar, cornflour, cinnamon and milk.

Heat over a low light, beating constantly, until the mixtures thickens and becomes custard-like.

If you have a food processor you can put it through the mixer to remove any lumps. Otherwise, you'll just have to be careful and patient, allowing the mixture to heat slowly and keeping up the beating.

Add the egg yolks, then the mashed banana. Mix well, and allow to cool.

Beat the egg whites, adding the caster sugar - a little at a time - until they look like snow and form peaks.

Fold carefully into the banana mixture and pour into the oven-proof bowls. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve with cream or yoghurt.