I don’t know if you’ve ever come across these in a Chinese Restaurant, but surely you’ve
heard of fried bananas and if not that, caramelized bananas.
Fried bananas are a common dessert option in Chinese restaurants, they’re soft on the
inside and crunchy on the outside.
These particular bananas are the best of both worlds, because they’re not only fried but
caramelized too! The caramel covers the entire piece with a thin, hard, candy shell.
I suggest serving these as soon as they’re made as the caramel can lose its hardness,
becoming sticky depending on the climate. It’s very important to fellow the directions of
this recipe exactly as they are, so you don’t end up with a mess!
I have done these before and they didn’t turn out so great. I hadn’t used enough oil to
completely coat the bananas and my caramel wasn’t at the right temperature once
I begun dipping them in. So make sure you do this very carefully, you’ll end up with
delicious candy coated bananas!
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INGREDIENTS:
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2 egg whites
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 flour
3 tsp baking powder
6 ripe and firm bananas
oil to fry
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Caramel
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup or glucose
6 tbsp water
1 tbsp vinegar
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DIRECTIONS:
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In a bowl, whisk the egg whites with the water. Add the cornstarch and flour. Mix with a whisk to avoid
and lumps. You want a creamy batter. Only add the baking powder right before dipping in the bananas.
Heat the oil and cut the bananas into bite sized pieces. Once your oil is heated and your about to dip in
your bananas, mix the baking powder into the batter. Submerge the pieces into the bowl of batter, making
sure to completely coat them. With your oil now extremely hot, gently place the battered banana pieces into
the oi and fry until golden. Make sure you use a big enough pan so that your bananas don’t stick to each other
while frying, you want them about an inch apart, completely submerged in the oil, to ensure a crisp shell
completely coating your bananas. Once they’re done frying, place them on a plate full of paper towels to soak
up the extra oil.
Now for the caramel, in a saucepan, add in all of the ingredients and stir until dissolved, over medium heat.
Once you see that your caramel is almost ready to use, get a large bowl and fill it with water and ice, your
gonna use this later.
Let the caramel boil until its a light golden and at 250º F/122º C. If you don’t have a thermometer, that’s ok!
You can use the cold water test, by dripping some of the caramel into a bowl of cold water. If you can form a
firm ball with the caramel, its ready! Now quickly submerge the fried banana pieces into the caramel in the
pan and quickly transfer them into the bowl of icy cold water. Don’t worry, your bananas won’t get soggy,
the icy water immediately hardens your caramel into a protective shell for the banana. Leave the bananas
in the icy cold water for a minute and serve immediately!
