As promised at the beginning of this holy month of Ramadan, I will be publishing a special Ramadan recipe here on the blog every week. Some of them (with slight variations) are already on the blog, and others are completely new. All the recipes have something in common. First, they all require only a few ingredients, so they are quick to prepare. Second, they provide the body with important nutrients, and third, they are all very delicious. These are three factors that are especially important during the month of fasting.
Today we continue with Beignets Bananes , also Beignets Corn . This isn't a new recipe, as I already published one for Beignets Bananes at the beginning of this culinary journey.
The recipe for Beignets Bananes is special to me. It's the very first recipe I ever wrote down. Someday I'll write a blog post about how it came about—a kind of ode to Beignets Bananes .
As the name suggests, you obviously need bananas for beignets bananes. The preparation is so simple. Besides bananas (preferably overripe) and cornmeal, you only need some flour (wheat or corn flour), a pinch of salt, oil for frying, and voilà!
Back home, during Lent, we had sweetened porridge (made from corn or rice) every day, accompanied by either plantains or various kinds of beignets, but often it was banana beignets . Of course, everything was deep-fried.
Deep-frying may have become a luxury in the current world situation. However, I believe that fried dishes are simply part of the fasting month of Ramadan. Therefore, despite everything, I still allowed myself to indulge in beignets. It took me a while to find frying oil, though, as it seemed to be sold out in the shops. When the opportunity arose, I didn't hesitate to buy an extra-large 5-liter bottle of oil. Unfortunately, this meant I had to dig deeper into my pockets than usual. But in the end, it was worth it. How else would I have been able to enjoy my delicious bouilli/cornmeal porridge ?
The advantage of fried foods is that they fill you up faster, and this feeling of fullness lasts for hours. Furthermore, after breaking the fast—iftar—one often craves something sweet. The natural sweetness of bananas is just the thing. In addition, bananas provide our bodies with important nutrients, thus preventing potential nutritional deficiencies during Lent.
Of course, the beignets are delicious on their own. However, combined with sweetened porridge, they taste even better. You can also enjoy the beignets with a hot sauce instead of, or in addition to, bouilli – that works too. I highly recommend Chez Fadi's Hot & Spicy Sauces . A real treat!
The whole thing as a video
Or as a download…
Beignets Bananas/Corn
Ingredients
- 3-4 overripe bananas
- 3-4 tablespoons wheat flour (or possibly cornflour)
- 5-6 tablespoons polenta – cornmeal
- approx. 500 ml frying oil
- 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
- Peel the bananas and blend them into a puree in a blender
- Place the dough in a bowl, add cornmeal, wheat or corn flour and salt, and mix to form a smooth dough
- Pour frying oil into a pot or deep fryer and let it get hot
- Moisten your fingers in a bowl of water, then use them to take small balls of dough and place them into the hot oil, being careful that the balls don't stick together. Repeat until there are enough balls in the pot
- Carefully turn the balls with a wooden spoon or fork and fry until golden brown on all sides. Then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel
- Serve and enjoy with cornmeal porridge or Chez Fadi's sauces, or on its own
