Before we went vegan, I could have lived off of fried fish and chips!
Beer battered cod was an all time fave that I never passed up.
Imagine my excitement when I discovered I could batter and fry canned banana blossoms and feel like I was eating one of my favorite foods from years past! I think I probably squealed a little!
The banana blossoms somehow magically recreates the texture of flaky fish fillet. They are really mild in flavor and with the help of some seaweed flakes for a fishy kick, it is remarkable how convincing these blossoms are! I mean seriously, who thought of this to begin with. I need to give them a hug!
I looked high and low for banana blossoms at my local Asian markets with little luck, but easily found them on Amazon! I hear that many Asian markets do in fact carry them, so you may find them locally!
In all honesty I was cautiously optimistic when creating this recipe, for fear of once again being super disappointed by lofty internet food magic claims. Some things just seem too good to be true. But this recipe is not. It is all true and delicious and amazing!
I made sure to include a picture of the inside of one of these fillets so you could see just how convincing it looks. These things look, feel, and taste like fried fish!
Now i’m not swearing this recipe will blow your mind, but it did mine. Suffice to say that banana blossoms are now a staple in my pantry, and fish fry Friday is back in action in our house!
Ingredients:
2 cans of banana blossoms in brine
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon old bay
2 teaspoons dulse flakes
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 can of cold beer, any beer is fine as long as it’s not a dark, thick beer
Oil for frying (I used peanut)
Vegan Tartar Sauce:
1/2 cup vegan mayo
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 - 3 tablespoons diced dill pickles
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
optional: 1 - 2 teaspoons capers
Instructions:
Drain cans of banana blossoms and carefully remove the blossoms, laying them out on a paper towel to remove some liquid. They can easily fall apart so be careful. I found that only a few blossoms in each can were fully in tact. I simply took all of the loose leaves from each can and stacked them back together to resemble full blossoms. I have only been able to find one brand of blossoms on Amazon. I am uncertain if this is an issue with all canned banana blossoms, but stacking the leaves back together worked just fine for me.
Transfer the blossoms to a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with the 2 teaspoons of dulce flakes and a dash of salt.
For the batter, whisk together the flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, old bay, and the entire can of cold beer in a medium sized bowl. The batter will be thick.
To make the tartar sauce, whisk all of the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Heat a deep skillet with a few inches of oil over medium/ high heat.
While the oil is heating, begin carefully dipping the blossoms into the batter. For any blossoms that you had to reassemble, place them into the batter, and using a spoon, cover the top in batter. This will help keep the blossom in tact vs attempting to dip them. Carefully transfer the blossoms to the hot oil. TIP: if you are not sure if the oil is hot enough, place a chopstick into the oil, if tiny bubbles form around the chopstick, the oil is ready!
Fry each blossom for a minute or two on each side, or until they are golden brown. If they seem to be browning too quickly, reduce your heat a bit. Transfer the finished blossoms to a wire cooling rack that has been placed on top of a paper towel lined cookie sheet.
Serve finished banana blossoms with a few lemon wedges, homemade tarter sauce, french fries, or malt vinegar.
serves 4
