Air-fried Banana Fritters with Golden Breadcrumbs 炸香蕉 (空气炸锅版)

Ever since I bought Philips Airfryer, I have been trying to replicate my favourite deep-fried food with Airfryer. Some food can be perfectly done in Airfryer without hassle, such as chicken, while the others require try-and-error to achieve the desired taste and outlook.

Banana Fritters, one of my favorite local snacks, are typically deep fried in a pot of sizzling oil. The taste differs largely due to the batter used in frying. As you know, Airfryer cannot fry food with wet batter. How to make this popular snack at home with Airfryer?

Instead of using wet batter,  "dry, wet, dry" method of breading is used for air-fried banana fritters.  Coat the bananas in corn flour, and dip into egg white then white breadcrumbs. It sounds familiar, right? The thing is, if I just follow the above steps, the air-fried banana fritters wasn’t as golden brown as I would have liked.  They looked pale, which is not appetizing at all!  I tried drizzling some oil on the breaded bananas before air fry, it does not help much.  I also tried air frying longer to brown them up, the bananas lost the softness of the inside.

To balance between golden brown crunchy outside and gooey soft inside,  here is one simple way:  Stir-fry breadcrumbs with a little oil before bread the bananas.  By doing so, you will get golden breaded bananas even before airfrying.  After air fry for 8 minutes,  it will turn into golden brown in color, crispy on the outside and the right richness on the inside.

Though air-fried version can't reach the ultimate crispiness that deep-fried version offers, I am pretty satisfied with my air-fried banana fritters.  They are not as greasy or calorie laden as deep-fried ones!


AIR-FRIED BANANA FRITTERS
(Recipe adapted from Philip Airfryer Cookbook - Chinese version)

Ingredients:

• 8 ripe pisang raja bananas, peeled
• egg white from one egg
• 3 tablespoons corn flour
• 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet.  Under low heat,  stir fry breadcrumbs for a few minutes until golden. Set aside. 
2. Preheat airfryer at 180°C.
3. Coat bananas in corn flour,  then dip into egg white. Coat them in golden breadcrumbs.
4. Arrange bananas one layer on the fryer basket and slide the basket into the preheated airfryer.
5. Set timer and air fry for 8 minutes.
6. Place on paper towels and serve warm.

Note:

The golden breadcrumbs is more than what you need here. You can store it in an airtight container in the fridge  for future use.