Fried Bananas

Malaysians like to eat fried bananas during tea time. This is one of the popular tea time meals for us because its delicious, soft, sweet and easy to get. To fry bananas, make sure that the bananas are half ripe to ensure best results. If the bananas are too ripe, they will turn very soggy, hence will be difficult to fry. Moreover, they will not end up in the original shape and melt with the oil.

Besides frying, we also make sweet desserts like banana dumplings or jemput-jemput pisang, banana porridge which is cooked with palm sugar and coconut milk or locally known as pengat pisang and banana cooked with sweet syrup or sira pisang, to name a few.

We also have banana savoury which we eat with rice, like masak lemak pisang or banana with coconut gravy, hot chillies and dried anchovies. But, be aware that not all types of bananas can be fried or cooked. Hence, its better to ask your local supplier for the information. In Malaysia, we use certain types of bananas for cooking and frying, like berangan and tanduk. Anyway, here is a very simple recipe which you can try!

Ingredients
10 bananas, peeled and cut into half (see picture)
half cup wheat flour, mix with water to form a thick batter
a pinch of salt

1 tea spoon tumeric powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp honey

Methods
1. Mix the batter with salt, tumeric powder, sugar and honey.
2. Dip the banana into the batter, one by one and when the banana is evenly coated with the batter, fry it in a hot oil.
3. Fry until golden brown.
4. Serve on their own or you can eat with sugar or sweet chilli sauce.

*Serve 1-2 people

How to Make Onde-Onde that Melts in Your Mouth

ONDE-ONDE...or Buah Melaka is a traditional Malay dessert. It is sweet and full of contrasting flavours. Spongy on the outside, sweet on the inside. When you bite onde-onde, the first impression you get is a spongy,rubbery-like texture that is fighting to settle in your mouth. Then...POP! Once your teeth bite deeper, the sweet, melting gula melaka or palm sugar will start oozing, filling your tastebuds with sweet sensation. Once you have your first taste, you will guarantee crave for more Onde-Onde. Take this simple recipe for your tea time sensation.

Ingredients

240 gm glutinous flour
3/4 cup hot water
1 tbsp screwpine (pandan) essence
120 gm gula melaka or palm sugar, diced into small squares (can be substituted with brown sugar)
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
a few drops of green colouring (optional - the colouring is meant to enhance the green colour)
a pinch of salt

Methods

1. Sieve glutinous flour into a bowl. Add hot water, screwpine essence and a few drops of green colouring (optional)
2. Combine the ingredients and make a dough.
3. Once the dough is ready, make a round pingpong sized dough. Make a hole in the middle and insert palm sugar. Cover the dough balls well.
4. Repeat untill finishes.
5. In another pot, boil some water. Add 2 screwpine leaves (tied together) and some salt.
6. Put the ready made dough balls into the hot water. Cook untill the dough balls emerge from the water.
7. Take out the dough balls and mix them with fresh grated coconut mixed with a pinch of salt.
8. Now the Onde-Onde is ready to be served!