Use em’ up: doughnut meets pancake in these banana fritters

Here’s another delicious way to use up those almost-black bananas.

These golden fritters were inspired by a tropical island adventure. Source: Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia

Ah bananas… green one day, black the next….

Now, we love using up those over-ripe bananas in banana bread – we’ve gathered all our favourites in our banana bread recipe collection, right here, with everything from coconut banana bread lamingtons to Caribbean banana bread.

Caribbean banana bread with rum and peanuts Source: Alan Benson

But we’ve now got a new way to turn them into deliciousness: Justine Schofield’s hot, golden, sticky banana fritters.

“They're a cross between a fritter and a donut. You know what? Just to add one more in there, a pancake. They're the ultimate banana fritters,” says the TV host and cookbook author.

Made with mashed banana and served coated in a deliciously sticky honey-coconut sauce, these golden fritters were inspired by Schofield’s market shopping while she was filming Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia. The show takes her on an exploration of the capital, Noumea, and other parts of this Pacific archipelago.

“At the markets in New Caledonia, there's so many different varieties of bananas. There are bananas for cooking, for eating, small ones, large ones, so many different ones,” she says.

New Caledonia's markets boast an abundance of tripical fruit, including many varieties of banana Source: Gérard via Flickr

And for the bananas used in these fritters, the riper the better. Those really black bananas are fine, she says, when SBS Food chats to her about her cooking and eating adventures in the Pacific paradise.

“When you are making fritters, or cooking with bananas in any sweet context, the darker they are and the more ripe they are, the sweeter they going to be and you're going to get a better result because there's a higher sugar content in them.

“Bananas ripen so fast. They will look unripe and then two days later, even one day, they're over ripened. So, you can take advantage of that and peel them and pop them in the freezer. Put them in some cling film and then have them on standby for a smoothie or fritters, or banana bread or banana muffins.”

In Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia, Schofield cooks and eats in some idyllic locations, and when it comes to these banana fritters, it gives her the perfect excuse to go for a swim.

Justine's beachside banana fritters Source: Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia

“It's perfect for a dessert. It's perfect for brekkie, maybe a brunch. Any time is a fantastic time for these banana fritters. I'm going to dig into one right now. I'm going to use my hands for this because there's no other way. Sticky hands, the ocean behind me - after I make a mess, I'm just going to jump straight into that water. Magnifique!” she says in the show, after cooking these up on her travelling outdoor kitchen.

For those of us without an ocean nearby, these fritters (get the recipe here) still have plenty of appeal. Could we use the same batter with other fruits – stewed apple, for example  – we asked?

“Absolutely, once you've got your batter you can experiment with different fruits,” Schofield says.

Serve up your fruity fritters with a sticky honey-coconut sauce and a dollop of cream, and you can close your eyes and imagine you’re sitting on white-sand beach, ready to dip your toes – and your sticky fingers! –  in the ocean…

Join Justine Schofield for Tropical Gourmet: New Caledonia, double episodes 8.30pm Mondays from 27 April to 18 May on SBS Food Channel 33, and then on SBS On Demand. These banana fritters are in episode one, which takes Justine to the capital, Noumea. 

Market fruit image by gérard via Flikr