FRIED BANANAS!!! Fried bananas are my weakness. Especially during Hmong New Years. You can find a lot of vendors at Hmong New Years selling these crunchy banana goodness. It’s all over Thailand as well, and let me tell you… It’s that good! Namwa bananas are the best bananas to use for this recipe. However, if you can’t find any Namwa bananas at your local Asian or Mexican grocery stores, you can definitely use plantains. They work just as fine. If you ever visit Thailand or go to a Hmong New Year don’t forget to grab a bag of fried bananas WHICH is bagged in a brown paper bag that I just adore! But anyways, here is my recipe for you! Enjoy!
Main Ingredients:
Namwa bananas, Plantains, any other root vegetables you want to fry, salt, baking soda, sugar, water, toasted sesame seeds, shredded coconut, and rice flour. 
Namwa bananas
Feel free to use any other root vegetables as well! Here I used yams and taro. The yams were delicious and sweet. The taro was a little bit on the dry side. But great overall.
Battered and Fried!
OH SO GOOD! CRUNCH CRUNCH!
Fried bananas are great for snacking. Make a lot because people will eat them all before you’re done frying 😉
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups rice flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 toasted sesame seeds
- 1 cup shredded or grated coconut (I bought mine from the freezer section. Feel free to use dry if you can't find any)
- 3/4 cups water
- 8 small namwa bananas
- 2 plantains
- Oil to fry
Instructions
Batter
In a bowl add in all of the first 7 ingredients (rice flour, salt, baking soda, sugar, toasted sesame seeds, shredded coconut*, and water)
*I bought shredded coconut at my local Asian grocery store in the freezer section. Feel free to use dry (Unsweetened) coconut if you can't obtain any fresh or frozen ones. Though I prefer to use the fresh or frozen one.
Mix well and set aside
Slicing the bananas
Peel and slice the bananas into 1/4 thick and 4 inches long (or to your liking). Set aside
Frying
In a pan, add in enough oil to fry and heat to 350 degrees! DO NOT HEAT OVER 350 degrees F or else your batter will not have enough time to turn nicely brown and crispy. Keeping the temperature below 350 is key.
Once it is preheated, dip your bananas in the batter and take it to the hot oil. Do about 6-8 slices per pan depending on your pan size. Do not overload the pan with bananas or else it gets soggy due to the temperature decrease. Once the bananas are in, let it set in the oil until the bananas starts to rise to the top. Then turn and switch them around. If you turn them before the bananas rices to the top, the batter will stick to your utensil. So just leave it.
Cooking time is about 5-8 minutes. Once they are nice and golden, transfer them and drain them well. Keep frying until all the batter is used up. Enjoy and Eat the day of!
-Cindy (CHawjCreations)
