No, these are not fried banana fritters. They don't look like it anyway. The texture is kueh-like, chewy and a little sticky. I think this is going to be the fastest I take to compose a post, patch it up with my extremely amateurish photography and publish it. I usually take about 3-4 days, from making a dish to downloading the photos, sitting down in front of the computer and write. In between, I would be busy with cleaning the house, running about fetching the kids and making dinner.
Anyway, this is not the main point of this post. The thing is, why did I make such a blackish and not so appetizing looking snack right after my Hideous Kueh Serimuka fiasco?
The answer is simple. This is a childhood homemade snack. Whenever there are bananas sitting around for too long and had started to spot black polka dots on their deep yellow skin, Mum would mash them all up, add plain flour and deep fry the batter. I love the slightly smoky taste on those spots where the natural sugar in the banana caramelized after being fried.
There was a bunch of nicely ripened banana hanging from the window sill in my Mum's kitchen. That was a beckoning sight. It seemed to be telling me that the time is right to introduce this childhood snack to my kids. And as if to help me along, Dad asked if I wanted those bananas. Five of them in total, I can have them all! Furthermore, my Aunt, who visited for a dinner gathering last night at my parents' place "announced" that she made fried banana kueh two days ago. "And it was delicious!" she said. "All right! That's it! I am having those bananas and making the fried kueh tomorrow!" I decided.
This is probably the fastest cooking I've made from scratch, 30 minutes flat. But of course this is no match for Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals. His is a full course, 4-dish meal while mine is just a snack. But that's not a problem to me, he is a chef, I'm a housewife ^_^
Okay, on with this snack. Ingredients are extremely simple, here they are.
Aunt mentioned to avoid over mashing the banana, leave some chunky bits for an extra bite. And I agree with her on this as it taste better to have some chunky fruits standing out from the banana-flavored kueh portion. Another tip Aunt taught me; add a pinch of salt. It seems that adding a pinch of salt will work at balancing out the sweetness and encourages the flavors in sweets to develop. Actually this is what I always do to my sweet bakes, add a pinch of salt. One last tip Aunt shared is to add some cornflour to the mixture. The fried crust will be crispy and stayed so even when the kueh cools down a bit. But I guess the crispiness disappeared when the kueh is totally cooled. So I guess I will make it a point to finish all up when these are lukewarm!
My childhood fried banana kueh
(the recipe below recapitulates the amount I used when I made these)
2 medium (fat) ripened bananas
2 1/2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp cornflour
pinch of salt
oil for frying
Method
1. Mash the banana with a fork, try to leave some chunky bits for extra bite. The bananas I used today are medium in length but quite fat.
2. Add plain flour spoon by spoon and check consistency with each addition. Stir the plain flour into the mashed banana using a fork. Add the cornflour and stir to mix well. The batter should not be too dry. This is how my batter looked like.
3. Using a tablespoon, scoop batter and drop into preheated oil and fry till browned. I do not think it is possible to achieve golden brown since the natural sugar from the banana will caramelize. I remember my Mum's version was as blackish as mine. But do make sure that the heat is not too high as the sugar will get burnt quickly but the batter is not cooked through.
I gave these to my girl after fetching her back from school. She seemed to like it. She is quite a picky eater, and if she downed three at one go, I think she likes it. The Tiny Man has yet to taste this, he had one large bowl of instant noodle for lunch and is now busy playing with his car games. He is crazy about cars...
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