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Sunday, August 25, 2013

Pisang Goreng or Deep Fried Bananas

Just ripe bananas dipped in a thick batter are deep-fried till golden, creating a crispy outside and a soft sweet inside – a truly delectable treat called Pisang Goreng in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. In English that translates to fried bananas.




“Pull over!” she’d cry.  It might be a fruit stand selling durian or a little roadside café or a hole-in-the-wall frying hot wontons filled with shrimp.  No matter, my mother was (and is) always game to stop and try whatever is on offer.  I get my food adventurousness from her.  When we lived in Trinidad, we ate curried who-knows-what at shacks by the side of the road.  (My favorite is goat.)  The other expat ladies thought she was crazy and that we’d get sick.  We never did.  In Venezuela Mom would buy me homemade cheese, called queso de mano, from peddlers who would dart between cars at the big roundabout near our house.  Even when we moved back to Houston, she would seek out the little local markets in the ethnic areas, driving clear across town to drink yogurt lassi and eat spicy samosas or to perhaps buy Middle Eastern sweet treats like baklava to bring in to work.

Through all the countries we’ve lived, I’ve tried to do the same.  Street food, when cooked hot and fresh, is the very best.  Get in line at the stall with the most people waiting to be served and you are guaranteed something tasty and worth waiting for.  All those people can’t be wrong, right?

My mother-in-law, me and my mom, at a hawker center in Singapore, 1 June 2009.
This is where Mom chose to go for her birthday lunch! 
This week our Sunday Supper group is celebrating global street food and I cannot tell you how long my list of possible recipes from myriad countries was.  It took me three days to settle on just one.  I don’t remember where I first tried fried bananas but I can tell you that my daughters fell in love with them in Brazil, where they are often served as the dessert at the end of a churrascaria meal.  Fried bananas are also typical market or street food all over Asia.  Turns out that the Portuguese are probably responsible for both.  If Wikipedia is to be trusted, up until 1511, Malaysians ate bananas in their natural state.  When the Portuguese arrived, they brought with them the flour necessary to make batter and their method of frying bananas, which then spread throughout the region.  So hats off to the Portuguese and let’s fry some bananas!

Many thanks to the Google+ Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia Cuisine Community, led by the talented and kind +Azlin Bloor, who generously allow me to be part of their group and who helped me settle on a recipe for the batter.  You all rock!

Ingredients
3/4 cup or 95g all-purpose flour
1/4 cup or 40g rice flour (not glutinous rice flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 egg
1 -1 1/4 cups water, or just enough to make the batter thick enough to stick to the bananas
Oil for deep frying – I use canola
4-5 medium-sized ripe - but not too soft - bananas

Powdered sugar – optional but not traditional – for serving
(Some fancy restaurants in Asia also serve these now, sometimes with ice cream.)

Method
Combine your flours, baking powder and salt in a big mixing bowl.


Beat your egg with a little water to loosen it and pour it in the mixing bowl.



Keep stirring and adding water until your batter is thin enough to drip off the whisk but still thick enough to cling to a banana.



Heat oil in pan or wok over medium flame to about 365°F or 185°C.  This is the temperature on my candy/deep frying thermometer which is suggested for doughnuts.

Peel and slice bananas in half widthwise then lengthwise.


Coat bananas in batter, and deep-fry in the hot oil for just a few minutes, or until bananas are golden brown and crispy.




Drain on paper towels.


Sprinkle on a little powdered sugar, if desired.  I did because I think it looks pretty.


Enjoy!

Be careful with that first bite.  The banana inside will be hot!



Bread on the Boulevard
  • Martabak (stuffed pancake or pan-fried bread)
from The Urban Mrs
  • Pao de Queijo
  • from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
  • Socca
  • from Curious Cuisiniere
    Hand-Held Savory Eats
    To-Go Containers
    Sweets on the Streets
    Grab a Thermos

    52 comments :

    1. Appreciate the admonition to be careful with the first hot bite of fried banana. I might be one of those who dives right in! Thank you for the recipe and another fun tale of family and adventures abroad =) P.s. Lovely photo of you and your mums =)

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    2. OMG Stacy, these are like the apple beignets my grandmother made! I'm making these again asap, love them! Your mother sounds like the perfect food companion.

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    3. I've never had fried bananas but I can say with nearly absolute certainty that I would LOOOOVE these!!

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    4. I have one friend who says she would eat wood if it were deep fried, Kayle. I don't think I would go that far, but it does make everything more tasty, especially bananas.

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    5. My mother is indeed the perfect food companion, Paula. There are very few things she won't eat.

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    6. Thanks, Kim. We always have a good time when we are together, no matter where we are!

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    7. Anything fried is delicious in my opinion! (Even who-knows-what-it-is questionable food stands!) Awesome post! Thank you for sharing your traveling experiences!

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    8. I don't know what to say besides AwMawGaw! I want some. Badly. And I adore that adventurous spirit with food was passed down...beautiful tradition.

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    9. My parents had adventurous palates, too...then I married into a picky family with conservative tastes. I do think my hubby would try your deep fried bananas, though :)

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    10. These look fantastic. Yum!!!! Thank you for sharing your adventures, I very much enjoy reading them :)

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    11. Oh I love these! Thanks so much for sharing them and your story :)
      Bobbi *Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen*

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    12. Delicious looking bananas!! Love your post, always excited to come over here to see what you have cooked up. Thanks for sharing!!

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    13. These look fantastic. We get fried bananas like this at a Japanese restaurant we love, and they serve it with custard. So yummy.

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    14. Oh, what a wonderful blast from my past! I ate fried bananas all over Asia as a child, and still can't think of any better treat. I'm glad you pointed out that the powdered sugar wasn't traditional - when I saw it in the photo I started to wonder why I never remembered it. Korean street food is fabulous - although I draw the line at beondegi - roasted silkworm larvae. Tried them once. Not a hit.

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    15. Yummy...and I love the fact your Mom picked a street food place for a her birthday lunch. Wish I had some now!

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    16. These look so good! I never really thought of deep frying bananas........I love the picture of you and your moms too.

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    17. I know I said I like to try everything but perhaps I would have to draw the line at roast larvae. Ick! You get the SO much braver than me award! Glad I brought back some good memories for you though!

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    18. The more I think about it, Martin, that may have been breakfast. We ate pretty much all day long, finishing with Burmese curry at supper. :)

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    19. Thanks, Tara. Your lovely comment just made my day!

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    20. I think everyone in Asia claims them as local, Shannon. But that's okay, because it means we can eat them everywhere!

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    21. Thank you, Kelli! I don't know why fried bananas haven't become popular in the States. I think they'd be a great food truck item!

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    22. Thank you, Amber! I have to agree with you. I don't do it very often for health reasons but deep fried is best!

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    23. Thank you, Heather! You need to give these a try! They are so easy.

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    24. I am fortunate in that my husband will eat most things too. Except beets, which I love. In my experience, even picky eaters like fried bananas.

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    25. Thanks, Bea, and thank you again for hosting this great theme!

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    26. It was my pleasure, Bobbi! Thanks for stopping by.

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    27. How cool that your Mom wanted to eat street food for her birthday.
      We always had deep fried bananas after every Chinese meal or takeaway with sugar and ice cream. Funnily enough have NEVER seen it on a menu in Shanghai.

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    28. I know, right? I almost shared another photo of her with her take-away container of peeled durian because hardly anyone who smells it wants to taste it. But this was the nicer photo.


      That is odd. I wonder if they'd know what you wanted if you just ordered it. How's your Mandarin? :D

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    29. If we had to rely on my Mandarin skills to get by here we'd be in serious trouble. I think its a western 'Chinese' dessert unknown to China.

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    30. Love this recipe and great photo of you and your Mom/Mother in Law! All drinks taste better out of a coconut!

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    31. How many countries have you lived in, Stacy? That's such a beautiful photo of you, your mom and MIL. I can't wait until I can travel and eat all of the delicious exotic food the world has to offer (although I don't have the iron stomach that you do!). Seriously, deep fried bananas are one of the favourite foods to eat. Every time I go for Malaysian/Thai, I order it for dessert, with big ol' scoops of ice cream. Yours look absolutely perfect!

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    32. Your mom sounds like just an amazing woman. And traveling with the two of you must be such an adventure! These deep fried bananas look just outrageous - in the best possible way :)

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    33. Quite a few, Nancy, quite a few! From what I hear, serving the bananas with ice cream has gotten quite popular in restaurants. In the markets, of course, you would be lucky to get a paper plate. Usually the banana is handed to you wrapped in paper! Which makes it way easier to eat as you walk along and gawk at the other vendors' wares.

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    34. She is amazing, Lori, and great fun to travel with. In my house, anything deep fried is outrageous, it happens so rarely.

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    35. I've lived in the south all my life and thought I'd seen just about anything fried. This is a first and it's now on my to-try list. I wouldn't be a good southerner if I didn't try anything I run across that is breaded and fried. :-)

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    36. I've never had fried bananas. (And they fry lots of things up here in WI!) Now I'm thinking I must try some!

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    37. Agreed - here too, we rarely deep-fry at home. It always turns into a huge mess, with burnt items. haha.

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    38. How cute, cuddly, inviting those fried banana chunks look! Thanks a ton for the step-by-step pictured recipe :)


      Love and hugs.


      http://www.myselfnusrat.wordpress.com

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    39. Cute and cuddly? OoooKay. I don't know about that but they sure were tasty. So pleased you stopped by.

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    40. It's not so much the burning as the mess it makes of the stove! Even with a spatter guard, I seem to end up with grease everywhere. User error, I'm sure.

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    41. Give them a try, Sarah! You won't regret it.

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    42. We will fry anything, won't we? My personal Southern breaded and fried favorite is okra. Hope you do give bananas a try, Renee!

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    43. Ugh no, I don't think it's user error. Well, maybe, but it's my user error, too. I have a splatter guard also, and I swear, that thing is just useless. There's still splatters all over the stove, oh, and on the floor in front of the stove. You know what's more dangerous than a wet tile floor? A tile floor that is wet with OIL. Sigh.

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    44. Haha, glad to see you put up this post. Your banananananana really looks good. Much better than mine (will share in my G+ circles later of the day). It looks crispy and professionally done. Dusting sugar is acceptable and drizzle with condensed milk and honey! Because there are lot of varieties of banana here, we usually used those banana that cannot be eaten raw. They are usually very thick skin and when ripe, it taste funny also. This is consider very good banana definitely it will taste nice. Cheers and have a nice day.

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    45. I have a washable rug in front of the stove that solves that problem, Lori, but I completely agree. That's why I got the rug. :)

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    46. Thank you, Ken! Your kind words mean a lot to me. I really appreciated your help with the recipe and flour translations. I wanted to use the pisang mas because they would be cuter and no slicing necessary, but I couldn't find any when it came time to cook. Of course, a couple of days later, the stores all had them. Typical Dubai. :)

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    47. Very clear instructions , pisang goreng is my favorite snack, I come from Indonesia..! I knew Azlin Bloor also from Google+

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    48. Selamat datang, Amallia! It's one of our favorites too. Happy to meet a friend of Azlin's. Thanks for stopping by and jumpa lagi!

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    49. I will def­i­nitely try it with the honey.The dressing looks great! Ways Sounds really good. Going to pick up the stuff I love banana desserts and these seem like the perfect delicious bite Definitely pinning this to my boards.

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    50. Thank you! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

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