What makes them cute is their size - they are about the size of a thumb.
The best way to show just how small these bananas are is to show them with their relatives - consider this photo my version of The Ascent of Man - The Ascent of Bananas
From left to right we have the senorita, followed by the Lady Finger and finally a regular banana. Unlike both the other bananas, the senorita has a fairly thin skin so you need to be careful as they will bruise easily.
When thinking of what to do with these bananas my main aim was to use them as a whole, after all it would be fairly pointless to make something where you have to cut the banana.
So I came up with something I haven't made in ages - Banana Fritters!
senorita bananas
fine breadcrumbs
desiccated coconut
egg
To add a little more interest to the crumb, I've added desiccated coconut to the mix - it adds a lovely toasted coconut flavour to the dish and as we know, coconut and bananas are two ingredients that really go well together.
Prepare the egg dip:
Lightly beat the egg with a tablespoon of coconut cream or milk - you can just use plain milk or water if desired.
Prepare the crumb mix:
Mix the fine breadcrumbs and desiccated coconut well - I used about a 60:40 mix but you can easily use more or less.
Dip the peeled bananas into the egg, making sure they are well coated, shake to remove the excess and then place in the crumb mix. Roll around to coat evenly. Place the crumbed banana onto a clean board and roll back and form to ensure a thin even coat. Repeat with the rest of the bananas.
I then repeat the process to double crumb the bananas.
Place the crumbed bananas on paper towels and store in the fridge until ready to cook.
The next part is the bit that scares people - they need to be deep fried.
With these types of things I always use a small saucepan with just enough oil to submerge the item I'm frying. You don't need to use massive amounts of oil - I think that is actually what scares people. By using smaller amounts of oil, it forces you not to overcrowd the pan which means better control on the oil temperature.
You fry these until golden and then place them on paper towels to remove any excess oil.
Serve with some ice-cream or thick cream or just enjoy them as they are.
I think we have these! D. just brought some home the other day, and I was taken with the fact that they fit in just the palm of my hand. TOO CUTE.
ReplyDeleteBananas Foster Fritters, I shall try!
Gorgeous!! I had deep-fried banana for the first time about a year ago, and just had fried banana with coconut ice cream for dessert Friday night at an Asian-Pacific restaurant. Fabulous!
ReplyDeleteRight now I am struggling to get my face off the screen...we had these little babies in our garden at my previous house....oh how I miss them now!!!
ReplyDeleteTeehee, reading this I was already thinking "oh, that looks wonderful, but I'm too scared to deepfry at home"... and then you covered that issue yourself! :P
ReplyDeleteNow I have no excuse...
there are 2 versions of malaysian banana fritters:
ReplyDeleterice flour/plain flour
salt
water
another version is where you mashed the bananas and add sugar to it besides the 3 ingredients mentioned above. we called it 'cekodok pisang'. you should give it a try! i loved it sooooo much :)
they look so tasty!
ReplyDeleteI used to 'embed' peanuts into them, break them into segments and sandwich a segment between two thick slices of cheddar cheese - yum yum!!
ReplyDeleteOh Tanita, yes they are too cute!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle - how good of a match is coconut icecream and fried banana, heavenly.
Gosh, you had these in your back yard Nina, now that is the type of yard I'd like!
Hannah - if you keep it small it really isn't a scary thing and it is just so much easier to control
Thanks for the info M4!
They are Deb!
That certainly is interesting Mukuge!
Great recipe!!! I love it:)
ReplyDeleteI have a perfect caption for your picture: does size matter? ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm a fan of fried bananas. I like it better than plain bananas. Here, sometimes it's deep fried with brown sugar. That's really good too. Your concoction is new to me though.
Loved the recipe! These bananas are really very tasty, in Brazil they are called "Banana Ouro", which mean "Gold Banana".
ReplyDeleteThe taste of the crumb must be divine!
Congrats!
I bet these are so tasty! They sound great and delicious, and so fun to make!
ReplyDeleteThose bananas look great, but do you think they can be baked instead of fried?
ReplyDeleteThanks Bogdan - I would imagine there would need to be some tweaks made to the crumb coating to give you the same effect as frying
ReplyDelete