1 food 5 ways, Bananas, Way #3: Banana Corn Fritters

When I was trying to decide what recipes I wanted to try for bananas, I came across this one from Eating Well. It wasn't vegan. It wasn't gluten free. I couldn't resist trying to fix that.

My version (presumably similar to the original) was lightly sweet and lightly hot. If I were serving it with something mild, I'd up the chipotle. Then again, I really like a good kick. But if you're serving them with something spicy like chili or spicy greens and beans, it's a good balance as is.

Banana Corn Fritters

Pictured here with some spicy greens & beans. I so wish I had written the measurements for that down for you.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup chickpea flour

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp Chipotle Tabasco

1-1/4 cups roughly mashed bananas (about 3 medium)

2 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp canola oil, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly coat a baking sheet with canola oil.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together cornmeal, chickpea flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and cinnamon.

3. In another medium bowl, mix banana, water, Tabasco

4. Add the cornmeal mixture to the banana mixture and stir until just incorporated.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, using 2 Tbsp batter for each (I used an 1/8 cup measuring cup to dish it out), space 5 fritters evenly in the pan. Cook until golden brown, 30 seconds to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Cook a second batch with the remaining oil and batter, adjusting heat to prevent burning. (I had a few extras for a third batch. The Eating Well recipe said it made 10, I got 13. The pan was oiled enough from the previous batches that I didn't need to add any oil for the 3rd batch.)

4. Transfer the fritters to the oven and bake until puffed and firm to the touch, 8-10 minutes.

Notes:

1. I mis-read the directions and didn't turn the heat down to medium after the oil was heated. I also used my cast iron skillet that really holds heat. Therefore, mine were much darker than golden brown. They weren't burned though. All that to say: read the directions, and if you're using cast iron you might want to turn the heat down a little more.

2. Although I didn't measure anything, the spicy greens and beans consisted of the following: frozen spinach, black beans, nutritional yeast, garlic salt, and more chipotle Tabasco. I heartily recommend it with the fritters.

3. It's great to find a recipe that's gluten free and vegan, but I've learned the most from people that tell me WHY they do certain things, so I'm going to try to quickly tell you why I made the changes I made in hopes that it will encourage someone who has previously been afraid to convert their own recipes:

• Using Cream of Tartar/Baking Soda instead of baking powder: I used to have a corn sensitivity and just got used to doing it. I don't even think I have any baking powder. So you don't have to do this, but it works. A 2:1 ratio of Cream of Tartar: Baking Soda is a great sub for baking powder.
• Using canola oil instead of cooking spray on the pan: Besides the fact that it comes out of an aerosol can, cooking sprays have soy lecithin in them. I don't even keep it around.
• Using Water instead of Milk: This didn't seem like a recipe that needed any creaminess or flavor from milk, especially in that small of a quantity. Besides, I didn't have an open rice or almond milk.
• Leaving out the egg: The egg was apparently in this recipe to hold everything together. Bananas are frequently used as a vegan egg substitute and there was enough banana to hold it together. The egg was completely unnecessary.
• Using the Tabasco instead of ground chile: I had Tabasco. I didn't have ground chile. And I definitely wanted the chipotle taste instead of just cayenne.
• Using chickpea flour instead of all purpose flour and using half as much: I don't substitute with chickpea flour often, but it has a little bit of an egg-y flavor and I was leaving out an egg. Just seemed like a natural substitution. I used half as much because without the egg, there wasn't as much liquid in the recipe so I didn't need as much dry