With these Paka Kolar Bora (Banana Fritters), our grandmothers would manage those over-ripened bananas that nobody would touch! These banana fritters is an excellent evening snack idea since they are made with super nutritious bananas, coconut and jaggery. Its a completely vegan, refined-sugar free, paleo-diet friendly and a nut-free recipe.
As you grow your palate matures as well. You start enjoying those dishes which you used to detest as a kid. Something like this happened to me with these Banana Coconut fritters, Sweet Banana Pakora recipe. Or, as we call them Paka Kolar Bora.
Ingredients for Paka Kolar Bora recipe
It is a pretty straightforward recipe. And that is why it has been very popular among the older generation. Imagine after cooking 4 meals for an entire clan, who would even dare go back to the kitchen for preparing snacks! Not me.
But for a recipe as simple as this might not bother me at all to step into that kitchen again. So, here’s what you are going to need to make some paka kolar bora aka Banana fritters:
- Some very ugly looking over-ripened Bananas
- Grated Coconut – Freshly grated would be prefered
- Grated Jaggery – You may use granulated Sugar otherwise if you don’t have Jaggery
- Whole Wheat Flour to act as a binding agent for the fritters – You may use Cornflour instead for a gluten-free option
- Ghee or Clarified Butter – You may use any neutral oil like sunflower Oil or Canola Oil for deep frying in case you wish to make vegan Banana fritters
How to use over-ripened Bananas for Paka Kolar Bora
Earlier when over-ripened bananas weren’t baked into cakes and muffins, Bengali grannies would go for this paka kolar bora recipe. I remember my maternal granny making these whenever we were left with over-ripened bananas, which used to be quite often during the hot and humid climate.
She would scrape some coconut and mix it with the mashed bananas and some grated jaggery for an extra hint of sweetness. While whisking it vigorously with her fingers, she would heat up some ghee or clarified butter to deep fry little fritters of it. “Ei sob baba, ghee te hi bhalo hoy”, she would always quip! (These Banana fritters are best made in ghee or clarified butter only)
Quickly turning them over as they caramelize, she would take them out and serve them hot. These would often make healthy evening snacks for us or might even find its way into our tiffin packs to school the next day.
Today, when the world is going gaga over Refined Sugar Free recipes, I am quite amused to find these oldies out of my granny’s notebook. Little did they ever realize that cutting refined sugar is necessary. For them, using natural sweeteners like jaggery and honey was a part of the routine.
As Janmashtami is fast approaching, I thought of trying out recipes from an old compilation of magazine recipe page cut-outs. This is first in that series. So, I am planning to name it as ‘Granny’s Recipe Compilation #1’
As I look for my next muse, you check out the recipe here.
With these Paka Kolar Bora (Banana Fritters), our grandmothers would manage those over-ripened bananas that nobody would touch! These banana fritters is an excellent evening snack idea since they are made with super nutritious bananas, coconut and jaggery. Its a completely vegan, refined-sugar free, paleo-diet friendly and a nut-free recipe.
- 4 Over-ripened Bananas
- 1/4 cup Grated Coconut
- 2 tbsp Flour
- 2 tbsp Date Palm Jaggery Or, any other kind of Jaggery
- Refined Oil to fry
-
Mash the bananas smooth. Then add the grated coconut, flour and jaggery. Mix everything together nicely.
-
Heat oil in a pan and drop the batter in the oil, 1 tsp at a time. Fry them till dark golden or brownish in colour.
-
Take them out on a kitchen towel to soak the extra oil.
-
Serve them hot.
Leave a Reply