Beer Battered Deep Fried Bananas with Salted Caramel or Toffee Sauce

I have actually been trying to blog this for almost a year now as I first made it AGES ago but something kept getting in the way! We've had this a few times now and it is simply one of my favourite desserts. Despite the deep frying they really are very easy to make and taste just incredible!

I've based the batter recipe on my beer batter as it's so nice and light and tasty. I figured a regular lager wouldn't work for a dessert so have used Well's Banana Bread Beer instead and added a bit of sugar to the batter. I've further dredged the banana in cinnamon flour before battering which really adds to it. The beer gives a hint of banana flavour to the batter which smells heavenly!

The first sauce I made for this was a toffee sauce as I wanted a banoffee feel to this dessert. It's really easy and tastes fantastic but then I tried a salted caramel sauce and have to say I slightly prefer that one, the bit of salt just gives the whole dish a little lift. However, the salted caramel is a bit of a bitch to make, my first batch turned out perfect but subsequent ones failed despite making them all the exact same way. 

So, I will give you both sauce recipes - the less stable salted caramel and the foolproof toffee :-) Furthermore, if you live in the UK or Ireland and don't want to make a sauce at all I can confirm that Lyle's Butterscotch Sauce is both labelled vegan and works very well with this.

And I know it may seem odd but this is one of those desserts that pairs very well with beer. It really does go perfectly with a chilled glass of the banana bread beer....and you've got to love a dessert you can eat with beer, right??

Recipe Notes:

• Well's Banana Bread Beer is vegan and readily available in both the UK and Ireland. Alternatively any banana flavour beer will most likely work and Mongozo banana beer is also vegan.

• I like to use golden caster sugar but any sugar will do.

• Make sure the bananas you use are not overly ripe, the firmer the better with no dark spots - they need to take some intense heat while frying!

• Use whatever store bought vanilla ice cream you like - my only option is Swedish Glace which thankfully I love but if you are lucky enough to have coconut milk/cream based vegan ice creams for sale where you are I can see them going beautifully with this.

Beer Battered Deep Fried Bananas

Batter:
1 cup / 140g plain flour

1 cup / 250ml Well's Banana Bread Beer

2 Tbsp golden caster sugar
1/8 tsp salt

Dredging Mixture:

• 4 Tbsp plain flour

• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

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• vegetable oil to fry

• bananas

Whisk the flour, beer, sugar and salt together in a large bowl until smooth. Place in the fridge for 1 hour.

Whisk the flour and cinnamon together in a shallow bowl. Remove the batter from the fridge and give it another good whisk.

Slice the bananas as you like. I sliced mine into thirds then each third in half. Dredge them in the flour and cinnamon mixture, the easiest way to do this is in a large ziploc bag.

Pour the vegetable oil into a large high sided pot. I used about 1.5 litres but still had a good 3 inches spare from the oil to the top of the pot - safety first! Don't fill a pot full of oil.

Heat the vegetable oil until very hot, at least 350F if you have a thermometer. NOTE: if the oil isn't hot enough the fritters will sink to the bottom and immediately stick to the bottom of the pan. Then, they will take too long to cook resulting in the banana turning to mush. You don't want that and yes, I speak from experience! When the oil is hot enough the fritters will drop in and then almost immediately rise to the surface. I recommend using one fritter as an oil test first before cooking the rest.

Take the flour and cinnamon dredged bananas and dip into the beer batter until well coated and then carefully place in the hot oil. Add more bananas but don't crowd the pot. As they cook turn them over so that they brown evenly.

Let them cook until golden brown then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack with paper towel underneath to catch drips.

Place a good size scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream onto a plate, place some of the fritters around it and drizzle over some of the sauce. Eat immediately!

Toffee Sauce:

• 25g maple syrup
• 50g light muscovado sugar (light brown)
• 40g vegan butter
• 30ml soy cream
• ¼ tsp vanilla

Mix all but the soy cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring all the while. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from the heat and stir in the soy cream. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool and thicken. If it gets too thick simply heat in the microwave for about 10 seconds and it'll be good as new :-)

Source: based on Demuth's Vegetarian Cookery School toffee sauce recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Salted Caramel Sauce: 

• 125g white caster sugar
• 4 Tbsp water
• 80ml soy cream
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Heat the caster sugar and water in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring all the while until the sugar dissolves and it comes to a boil. Stop stirring and let it simmer until it changes to a light golden colour. While it is simmering, make sure you do not stir it but instead brush around the pot just above the liquid with water to stop sugar crystals forming.

When it is nice and golden in colour remove from the heat and immediately stir in the soy cream - warning: it will splatter and foam up a lot here so take care! Once that is fully incorporated then you can stir in the vanilla and salt.

Source: based on BBC Good Food's Salted Caramel Buttercream Recipe. 

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