B is for

I spent a good few years of my early childhood in one of Australia's top Banana growing regions. I was pretty well brought up eating bananas, banana bread, banana on toast, banana pancakes, muffins, chocolate coated bananas, frozen banana chunks rolled in coconut and the very most special treat was those rare occasions when my father would pull out the deep fryer and make us a batch of banana fritters. Needless to say, bananas are by far my favourite fruit, and I could easily eat them every day.

During my late teens I spent 18 months living on Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, a small island that has been part of the Australian territories since 1958, with a majority of the population from Chinese and Malay origins. This introduced me to a variety of foods that weren't regularly part of my diet prior to the move. There was this little old man who would walk around the island, which in itself was quite a feat as the island is extremely hilly and it would have killed me walking what he did every day. He carried with him a box of home grown vegetables, and occasionally home made Indonesian Banana Fritters. It was the first time I had ever tasted them and I fell in love with them instantly. Whenever we saw him walking by we would run outside and ask if he had any for sale, this little old man, whose name I never learnt, was like the ice-cream truck for my sister and I.

After I left the island I craved these delicious banana fritters, but with no idea where to get them in Perth, Western Australia I searched the internet for a recipe on how to make them at home. While I have never quite managed to get them the same as the ones we brought from this man, I have perfected the recipe enough over the years to make delicious banana fritters that my daughter and I love, and absolutely devour. Hubby doesn't care much for banana, so he doesn't eat them, which isn't a problem, it just means my daughter and I don't have to share!

Indonesian Banana Fritters

Serves 2 - (can easily be doubled to serve more)

Ingedients:

80g plain flour

1 pinch baking powder

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 egg

20g butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 ripe bananas, sliced

Vanilla ice-cream and maple syrup for serving.

Method:

Stir together flour, baking powder and white sugar in a small mixing bowl, make a well in the centre.

In another small bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla essence with a fork until combined.

Pour wet mixture into the well in the middle of the dry mixture and stir until the batter is smooth. Stir through the sliced banana until coated in the batter mixture.

Spoon large tablespoons of banana mixture into a preheated deep fryer, and fry, turning occasionally until golden on each side. Remove fritters from deep fryer and allow to rest on a plate lined with absorbent paper towel.

Serve with vanilla ice-cream and a drizzle of maple syrup if desired.

Note: I haven't tried cooking these in the oven yet, but I have heard that you can. I will give it a try soon to see if we can make them healthier than using the deep fryer. I am also thinking of adding a pinch or two of cinnamon to the batter mixture.

This is fun to make with your kids. My daughter likes to prepare the batter and then I do the deep frying.