Fried Green Bananas

No, not a typo. Yes, fried green bananas.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at my local grocery and as usual, bought a bunch of bananas. And, as usual, they were green. I loathe green bananas and prefer my bananas to be yellow and freckled at the very least. Underripe bananas make my teeth hurt.

So I waited for them to ripen. And waited. And ended up buying some ripe ones last weekend from McNeil's. And yesterday it occurred to me that these things were never going to make it to a point where I'd find them edible. And they were so green that no human would find them edible now. So what does one do with green bananas? Google told me to fry them. After reading all the glowing reviews, I decided to try it.

First, I had to cut open the bananas. They were so green, they could not be peeled. And just to make sure that the skins weren't deceiving me, I tried a bite of one. Yick. So I proceeded to cut them into small slices, about the size of half a home fry. I didn't want them to be too thin and therefore higher in calories.

I poured some canola and peanut oil in the bottom of a pan--about 3/4 inch deep--and heated it on a high-ish medium high setting. Once it was good and hot, I dropped in the first fries. It didn't take long for them to start browning, but they had a tendency to stick together, so the frying required some monitoring (and poking). After just a few minutes, I took them out and placed them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. I repeated for six bananas worth of fries. Pictured is only about three bananas' worth. I like big bananas (I can not lie...).

Instead of eating them with something sweet or plain, the SO and I decided to salt and pepper those little bad boys up and dip them in a little ketchup. And just like the reviews say, they were delicious. We polished off a whole lot of fries. Yay, banana fries! Not quite as unhealthy as potato fries!

So, yay, right? Hang on just a second. Here's where I tell you the rest of the story. First, deep frying these bananas caused quite a bit of smoke to develop. I didn't see it actually forming but realized what was happening when my eyes started burning. Little bits had gotten left in the oil and started smoking (and were very charred by the end). Maybe this is an outside job. Luckily, I got that storm door with the panel that opens for ventilation.

Second, remember how I said it was six bananas? Six large bananas? Split between two people? If you've never tasted a really green banana, the texture is very cellulose-y, fibrous...woody, even. Do you see where I'm going with this? We ate what felt like (hours later) a pound of deep fried tree branches. Fiber is good for you and all, but indigestible fiber...not so much. I think that eating about half of what we did (or maybe a quarter) would have been smarter. But they were so good! So deep-frying the green bananas is a good way to use them up, but keep your consumption limited to a small portion. Unless you enjoy feeling like you have part of a tree in your gut.