There’s just something about mashed banana fritters – better known in Malaysia as cekodok pisang. These beautifully caramelised balls of mashed banana are a sweet treat that only requires a handful of ingredients but are super delicious.
The perfect Cekodok Pisang is almost black as sin and crispy on the outside, with a warm, gooey centre. The “skin” is bitter-sweet, complimenting the flavour of the mushy ripe bananas it envelopes.
Secrets to Cekodok Pisang
There are two secrets to perfect mashed banana fritters – the bananas, obviously, and just a little bit of self-raising flour.
Banana: Simply put, the sweeter the bananas, the better, and the less sugar you need to add to the batter. Pisang Raja and Pisang Mas are some of the banana varieties you can use for this dish, but the more widely available Cavendish Bananas are also suitable when very, very ripe.
Self-raising flour: The small addition of self-raising flour is the secret to making mashed banana fritters nice and round and perfectly crispy on the outside. So don’t skimp out on this ingredient.
Ingredients
• 100g all-purpose flour
• 16g self-raising flour (a little over 3 teaspoons)
• 40g sugar, amount adjusted for sweetness
• ½ tsp sea salt
• Cooking oil
Banana ripening hack
Mashed banana fritters are best made with very, very, very ripe bananas – the squishier, the better. However, waiting for bananas to ripen on the counter can take a few days.
The oven is a great way to ripen your bananas fast. Bear in mind that you need to start with bananas that are already yellow. A tinge of green at the ends of your bananas are fine.
• Heat oven to 150°C.
• Arrange bananas on a baking sheet.
• Once the oven temperature is at 150°C, put your bananas in the oven and bake them for 15 to 30 minutes. The timing varies depending on how ripe your bananas are. The more ripe it is, the less time it requires.
• The bananas are ready once the skin turns shiny and black.
• Once cool, peel the bananas and discard the skin. It’s ready to be made into mashed banana fritters.
Method
• With your fingers or a fork, mash bananas thoroughly until smooth.
• Add all-purpose and self-raising flour to mashed bananas and mix until thoroughly combined. The flour acts as a binding agent in this recipe. The batter should be wet and still mushy.
• Next, add sugar. This recipe needs a little bit of sugar, but how much depends on how ripe and sweet your bananas are.
You may want to start with half the sugar, mix it through and give the batter a taste. If you like how it tastes, there’s no need to add more.
However, if you’ve added the rest of the sugar and it’s still not sweet enough, wait until the salt goes in before adding more sugar.
If your bananas are very sweet though, do not omit the sugar altogether and add just a little as this helps to caramelise the Cekodok Pisang.
• Finally, add salt and mix it through. Salt will actually enhance the flavour and sweetness of the batter. If you still find the batter not sufficiently sweet, you can add more sugar now.
• Set batter aside. There is no need to refrigerate it.
Time for deep-frying
• Fill your wok or pot with about 4cm depth of oil and bring it up to frying temperature. To test if your oil is hot enough, plop in some batter. The oil should start bubbling immediately.
• Use two regular teaspoons to scoop out and shape the batter into a rough ball. It doesn’t have to be perfect as the batter is soft and won’t hold its shape for very long. Immediately drop the shaped batter into the oil.
• Add in a few more scoops of batter (or as much as you can handle) and let it fry until the skin is dark and crispy, turning it around in the oil occasionally to ensure all sides are fried evenly.
• Scoop out and transfer fried fritters to a plate or colander lined with paper towels.
• Let cool for a few minutes before serving.
This article first appeared in butterkicap.com
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