Recently, when looking up the ins and outs of harvesting bananas, John found out that some people pick their bananas green, to cook them like plantains. Since he told me this, I've been intrigued and today I decided to try something new with them. We recently harvested several bunches of bananas from our banana patch previously mentioned in the first part of this little series, which are now hanging from twine in one of the rooms of our house, ripening. Those bananas that were just pollinated only a few months ago were finally ready for harvest.
Here are the bunches we recently harvested. You just use a sharp knife to cut off the bunch at the base, which makes a convenient spot to hang it from. To avoid pest problems and splitting, most harvest their bananas while they are still green, leaving them to hang to ripen. Hang them in a cool, dry and shady area until they ripen. When we harvested ours, we left one of the bunches, sometimes referred to as hands, on the tree to grow bigger.
Today, partially due to the fact that I wanted a snack, I set out to trying these bananas unripe and fried. I took to the internet in search of a recipe and had a hard time finding what I was looking for. Many of the recipes included deep frying, something I wasn't able to do with my limited oil resources I'm currently working with. My intention was to find a green banana chip recipe pan fried in butter, and I didn't find it. The closest thing I found to what I ended up doing was a recipe that used overripe bananas, which probably yielded very different results, although probably delicious results. I decided that it was time to create my own fried green banana recipe, so I did. What I came up with was these buttery, cinnamon sugar green banana chips. So I went to the tree and cut off a few of the bananas, also breaking one more off of the previously harvested bunches.
All you need for this recipe is unripe bananas, butter, cinnamon and sugar. Amounts depend entirely on how much you intend on making. I used enough butter to coat the bottom of the pan in a thin layer. I mixed some cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl, to toss the chips in after frying. I'll admit I was a bit nervous when I started this one, as I've not attempted anything quite like it before.
To prepare the bananas, start by cutting of either end, as shown above.
Run a knife down the side of the banana, just through the skin. At this point, the skin can be peeled off like an orange, a much different experience than peeling a regular banana.
Continue until your bananas are peeled, looking much like the ones above. I was amazed at how hard the bananas were inside at this stage, and honestly worried about the outcome of the recipe. I swallowed my fear and continued on.
I sliced the bananas, to about an eight of an inch thick in rounds. The bananas started getting a brownish tinge to them as soon as they were peeled, something else I didn't expect.
So I melted the butter and heated the pan to medium high tempuratures. I dropped in the bananas and attempted to lay them all flat, one side down. The cooking process continued for about five minutes, with me flipping the contents of the pan every so often. Slowly but surely the bananas got golden brown and crispy, signaling they were finished. I scooped them out, allowing excess oil to drip off the spatula.
After allowing them to drip, I added them to the bowl of cinnamon sugar and tossed them to coat.
Transfered to a plate, they were done and ready to eat. In my opinion, they were delicious, although John said they weren't for him. I was worried about if I would even like them the whole way through the process and was in the end pleasantly surprised at the results. There's only a slight banana flavor, more of an aftertaste than anything. They had a crispy edge with a soft, slightly chewy center. I enjoyed them so much I ate them all, and I intend to make them again when I have the resources and a sweet tooth like I did today. I recommend anyone that has access to green bananas try this, as it's a great way to prepare them. If you don't, I'm sure a ripe banana variation would be delicious, in a completely different way.