BANANA FRITTERS (GORENG PISANG)
You can find this mouthwatering snack across parts of South and Southeast Asia, and these deep-fried banana fritters should definitely be on your must-try list if you’re visiting. Usually preceded by the intoxicating smell of fried batter and ripe bananas, you can find banana-laden stalls peddling crispy flavour bombs to hungry sweet-lovers – and we definitely recommend eating these in the morning when they’re still fresh!
Many of these stalls don’t just sell banana fritters, and across the region you can find variants that include battered and fried cempedak (jackfruit), breadfruit, sweet potato and fermented cassava! Some believe that these fritters were first birthed from a mixing of European and local cuisines during colonisation.
Most recipes involve a combination of flour (usually wheat, rice, tapioca or maida flour), eggs and sometimes coconut milk, in which skinned bananas are dunked and deep fried in ripping hot oil. The frying process creates an ultra crispy shell with an abundance of delightful crunchy crevices, which perfectly holds the somewhat jammy and warm banana centre.
Many locals enjoy this snack as a sweet morning or afternoon bite, and you can find these gorengan (fried snacks) in different malls, coffee shops and hawker stalls across Singapore! Try your luck at hawker centres like Maxwell Food Centre or Geylang Serai Market, as they typically host a variety of dessert stalls that include fried treats like these.
