Frittering Your Bananas Away

L

Yep. This is a recipe for deep fried bananas. These little crisp and moist nuggets transport you to somewhere far away and tropical. You want them served in a brown paper bag, by a little old Thai women. Each bite just oozes decadent tastiness and demands a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, or perhaps a melting scoop of vanilla cream with a generous topping of Caribbean rum.This recipe, originally from Delicious (volume 3 issue 3, page 100) is simple and quick enough to make. I topped mine with a luscious strawberry cream, which takes a fraction of the time of a homemade ice cream, but rounds out the dish with a fantastic sweet and subtle tartness.

Banana Fritters with Strawberry Cream

It’s best to use bananas that aren’t too terribly ripe in this recipe… they soften considerably in the cooking process and while it’s nice to have a soft, gooey center to your fritters, you don’t want them to be complete mush. The tumeric in the batter gives a just a hint of flavor and adds some color to make the fritters a brighter gold. If you don’t have tumeric, you can substitute a touch of cinnamon or nutmeg for flavor, but you’ll lose some color.

Banana Fritters with Strawberry Cream

Serves about 4

4 bananas
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp ground tumeric
pinch of salt
1 cup club soda
Canola oil for frying
sugar (optional)

1 pint of strawberries
1 tsp sugar
Juice from one lemon
1/2 pint of heavy cream

Start by making the strawberry cream. Wash and hull the strawberries, and dice. Add the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice to a medium sauce pan, and heat on medium low until the strawberries soften, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and mash the strawberries through a sieve into a bowl to remove the seeds and excess pulp. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it’s light and fluffy and holds soft peaks. Then, gently fold in the strawberry puree until combined. Cover and store the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Next, set a deep frying pan (or a wok) on the stove, with the canola oil about an inch deep to heat to 375F (190C). Use a thermometer to check the temperature… too cool and you’ll end up with even greasier fritters… to hot and the oil will burn. Also, go ahead and prepare a rack, covered with paper towels next to the stove. You’ll use this to let the fritters cool.

Bananas

While the oil is heating, peel and slice the bananas. You can split them in half, quarters or in little discs… whichever you prefer. Discs are easiest to handle.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, and add the tumeric and salt. Stir together with a fork. Then, slowly add the club soda, stirring as you go until it’s just combined. Don’t over stir.

Coat the banana pieces in the batter and add to the hot oil. Cook for 1 minute on one side and then flip cooking 1 minute on the other or until golden brown. Then, remove from the oil and allow to drain/cool slightly on the paper towels. Sprinkle with some sugar if desired. Repeat until all the bananas are used.

Top generously with the strawberry cream, and serve immediately.

Banana Fritters with Strawberry Cream

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0 thoughts on “Frittering Your Bananas Away

  1. Thanks all for your comments! I’m not usually a fan of banana flavored things… but I seem to be developing a taste for freshly cooked banana desserts.

  2. Oh why must you torture me like this. I love bananas and I love to cook with them, but right now due to a hurricane that wiped out our banana plantations they are selling for $13.99/kilo!! So no banana recipes for the time being. But looking at yours is making me crave some…its beautiful.

  3. i must say, you have a lovely site! stumbled through bea…we have this in the Philippines and it’s called maruya…thanks for reminding me, i should make these for the kids, i’m sure they will love it too!

  4. Yum! Banana fritters are fantastic, as are pineapple fritters. I haven’t seen or had them in many years. I loved them as a child sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, however I love the idea of serving them with strawberry cream! Mmmmm!

  5. Hi L,

    I love banana fritters! My grandma used to cook this with shredded ginger :). I might make some. Thanks for the inspiration. Beautiful photos. I get what you mean about not using an over-ripe bananas. Totally agree.

    Also,

    Congratulations x2 for being mentioned on ‘Chicago Tribune’ ‘What a Dish’. Trully deserved!

    and also,

    Thank you so much for the heads up. It’s my first ‘newspaper mention’ so you can imagine how happy i am to have stumbled upon it.

    Mae

  6. JenJen – oh, that’s so sad! Hope they come back soon…

    ces – thanks! Bea’s site is of course amazing… she is an inspiration!

    Bron – pineapple sounds fantastic… I have to say, I’ve never thought of deep frying it, but I bet is delicious. Of course that means it would have to stick around long enough to cook, and with me around, fresh pineapple tends to disappear faster than you can say fresh pineapple.

    Mae – Thanks! Shredded ginger would be a nice addition. And congrats to you too! I wish the article had links, but at least slashfood fixed that …

  7. Oooh! These look so good! My favorite way to eat fried bananas is with coconut ice cream and drizzled with a little honey. I’ve never made it at home (always a special treat at my favorite Thai restaurant) but after reading this, I’m tempted to try it!

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