Desserts Recipes - Banana Fritters Recipe

Ingredients

• 115g/4oz/1 cup self-raising (self-rising) flour

• 40g/1/4 cup rice flour

• 2.5ml/1/2 tsp salt

• 200ml/7fl oz/scant 1 cup water finely grated lime rind (optional)

• 8 baby bananas

• vegetable oil, for deep frying

• strips of lime rind, to garnish

• caster (superfine) sugar, for dredginug

• lime wedges, to serve

Serves 8

---

Method:

1. Sift together the self-raising flour, rice flour and salt into a bowl. Add just enough water to make a smooth, coating batter. Mix well, then add the lime rind, if using.

2. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or wok to 190°C/375°F.

3. Meanwhile, peel the bananas. Dip them into the batter several times until well coated, then deep-fry until crisp and golden.

4. Drain on kitchen paper. Serve hot, dredged with caster sugar and garnished with strips of lime. Offer the lime wedges for squeezing over the bananas.

These delicious deep-fried bananas are quick to cook, but easy to get wrong. They should be cooked at the last minute, so that the batter is crisp and the banana inside is soft and warm. It's also important that the oil for deep-frying has reached the correct temperature, so that the batter cooks on contact. If it isn't hot enough, the batter will slide off the bananas and may turn into a pappy mess.

Cook's Tip: Tiny bananas are available from some Asian stores and many larger supermarkets, alternatively use small bananas and cut in half lengthways and then in half again.

Variation: Instead of lime, add finely grated orange rind to the batter.