Crunchy fried banana with Vanilla Ice cream

My son developed this craving for fried bananas after dining at a Caribbean restaurant. I have never tried frying a banana before, because it never occurred to me that fruits could be fried. Anyway it turned out mushy when I first fried it. I somehow managed to satisfy his palette by frying it again after rolling it in flour. It turned out well this time and he enjoyed it too. But my imagination by now had scaled to different heights I wanted to do much more than that. Being a south Indian myself I was enamoured by stuffed banana recipes from Kerala and Thasneen’s blog post on pan fried bananas stuffed with coconut and raisins, kind of inspired me. But I knew my kids with their Canadian taste buds would deem it too sweet. So I decided to stuff the bananas with a mixture of nuts and Nutella and also give it a crunchy outer crust. It turned out well.  I served it with vanilla ice-cream and it was  a big hit.!

Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
2tbs Nutella
1/4 cup chopped mixed nuts (almonds, pistachios & walnuts)
1/4 cup white flour
1/2 cup corn flakes crushed
Enough oil to deep fry

Instructions:
1. Peel the bananas, cut into 2 pieces horizontally and set aside.

2.Beat the egg and get two half plates ready – one with white flour and the other with corn flakes.

3. Add Nutella to the chopped nuts in a bowl, mix well and set aside.

4. Slit the bananas lengthwise, stuff them gently with the Nutella nut mix and close them by pinching the opened edges together with your fingers and smoothen the closed slit well so that it is fully secured.

5. Take each stuffed banana piece, roll it in flour, then roll it in beaten egg with the help of a fork, then finally roll it again in the crushed cornflakes. Repeat the same procedure for all the stuffed pieces and set aside.

6. Add the oil in an electric deep fryer or frying pan and set it to medium heat. To test if the oil is hot enough just put a small crumb in the pan and if it sizzles it means it is ready for frying. Do not fry them on high heat, nor put them in the pan when the oil is not hot enough. Deep fry two or three pieces at a time (not more than that as they might burst due to change in temperature). Drain them on paper towels and serve them hot on a bed of cold vanilla ice-cream. You might think it is weird eating a hot and cold dessert. But it a great experience. Try it and enjoy!