Wherever you go in Vietnam, you will find fried bananas. They are eaten hot, straight from the pan, as a quick and tasty sweet snack. More elaborately, they might be combined with one of the lovely French-style ice creams, such as creamy, pandanus-flavored kem, which is rather like vanilla ice-cream, or toasted coconut kem. The Vietnamese are fortunate enough to have a number of different types of banana to choose from, and the local beer makes the tastiest batter for coating the fruit.
Ingredients
- 4 Ripe but firm sweet bananas
- 1 bowl Vegetable oil, for deep frying, add more if required
- 1/2 teaspoon Caster (superfine) sugar, for sprinkling
- 115 g Plain (all-purpose) flour
- 2.5 ml Baking powder
- 45 ml Caster (superfine) sugar
- 150 ml Water
- 150 ml Beer
Instructions
- To make the batter, sift the flour with the baking powder into a bowl.
- Add the sugar and beat in a little of the water and beer to make a smooth paste.
- Gradually beat in the rest of the water and beer to form a thick batter. Leave to stand for 20 minutes.
- Peel the bananas and cut them in half crossways and in half again, lengthways. Pour enough oil for deep frying into a wok or a heavy, shallow pan.
- Cook the bananas in batches, so they don’t stick together in the pan.
- Dip each one into the batter, making sure it is well coated, and slip it into the hot oil.
- Use tongs or chopsticks for turning and make sure each piece is nicely crisp and golden all over.
- Drain the fried bananas on kitchen paper and sprinkle them with sugar.
- Serve immediately
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Do you have a better Vietnamese Fried Banana recipe?