Buying this whole box of banana for $5 in the market was likened to a ray of sunshine peeping through the dark rainy clouds that hung over Sydney in the past few days. How could we not bring it home to share with neighbours and friends? From our past experiences, we know that the price of vegetables and fruits will soon shoot through the roof as flooding had inundated most of NSW. I remember that a kilo of bananas was selling at $15, after cyclones desolated nearly all the banana crops in Queensland, last year and the year before. Like many price conscious shoppers, we simply had to delete bananas from our shopping list during that period and waited for the price to drop before we could afford to put bananas on the table again.
After distributing half a box of bananas away, we are left with the other half, and that is a lot of bananas for a family of three. Besides, they are all ripening at the same time right in front of our eyes. Think fast, mate! “What are we going to do with them?”, My wife said to me, as if it was my responsibility to save every banana from turning brown. “No worries mum, what we cannot finish today, I turn them into banana bread tomorrow”, I replied. “Before you do that, can we have some kuih kodok (banana fritters) for afternoon tea?” She added. For the next hour, we were still talking about what to do with the bananas which seem to be ripening by the minutes. Okay, before I go banana, let me post the kodok recipe. Incidentally kodok is toad in the Malay language and I do not want to go there without relating to the cane toads and bananas in Queensland. That’s another story.
Recipe: Kuih Kodok (Fried Banana Fritters)
Ingredients:
6 big ripe bananas
1 1/2 cup flour
2 1/2 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of salt.
Oil for deep frying
Method:
Mash the bananas with fork into small pieces and put them into a bowl. Add flour, sugar to the mashed banana, Stir the ingredients so they are well blended.
Heat the cooking oil in a wok. Once the oil is heated, scoop up a spoonful of batter into the hot oil.. Deep fry until golden brown. Drain well on paper towel
