Recipes from Malawi: Banana Fritters

So after all the child torture (I'm just kidding, they didn't hate it that much), I decided to give everyone a treat. I actually knew pretty well in advance that these banana fritters would be a treat, because "banana" and because "deep fried." I don't see how you could get that combination wrong, unless you deep fried your bananas in motor oil or something.

And these are easy, too, though I don't recommend them for every day. They are super-greasy, and obviously not a part of a healthy eating plan. But if you want to make your kids feel better about that nsima, well, you can't go wrong with some banana fritters.

First, mash up the bananas with some sugar and salt. Hopefully you have a super-cute helper to add the sugar for you.

Now stir in the cornmeal and mix until you have a nice dough.

Heat some cooking oil (something with no flavor of its own, like canola) until bubbles rise around the non-stirring end of a wooden spoon.

Fry until golden. Mine were a little on the overdone side, but no one cared.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Everyone loved these. What's not to love? Crispy, banana, deep fried, dusted with powdered sugar. Of course my sugar-loving older daughter thought that there wasn't enough sugar:

Her dentist worries about her.


Here's the recipe:

Banana Fritters

from Anjimile Mtila Oponyo

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• Oil for frying

Instructions

1. Mash the bananas up with the sugar and salt.
2. Stir in the cornmeal.
3. Heat the cooking oil until bubbles rise around the non-stirring end of a wooden spoon.
4. Drop spoonfulls of batter into the hot oil and fry on both sides until golden.
5. Drain on paper towels and dust with powdered sugar.