A Good Use of Calories: Fried Bananas

One of the best ways to blow a diet, period.

Taste & See: Deep fried banana and taro are often sold at the same grease-splattered, sizzling, carts drawing you in despite yourself with the smell of pure indulgence & a bit of sugar on top.

You know that blissfully hot, crunchy texture of biting into something good and deep fried? And the soft, squishy sweet bliss of biting into a creamy dessert? Imagine them together: crunchy hot outside, squishy sweet inside. This, my friend, is gluay tod, or fried bananas.


There are also fried taro, and the occasional fried other things, like sweet potatoes, but I forget what they're called. There are also a couple varieties within the banana family-- whole fatty bananas covered in crispy bits, banana logs with just a bit of batter, etc. etc. I recommend a mixed bag-- just wave your hand over the whole batch and smile -- and you can see for yourself what you like.


Now you have to be careful. Get them cold, hours after the vendor has fried 'em up and placed them on a wire basket to dry, and you may think I'm telling you lies. They get a bit cold & limp and they're just not worth the oil they're cooked in. But get a fresh batch ["are they fresh" = sot mai?, fyi] and they are to die for. So full of oil you might die, eventually, but you'll have a big fat smile on your face when you keel over.


Bananas are usually about 10B for a bag [see above] of more fried goodness than you probably need.