Maruya (Banana Fritters)

Maruya is my Mom's new recipe for her merienda store.

But her maruya was a lot different from what i know. I thought of only one variant of Maruya (Banana Fritters) and they are sliced bananas sitting side by side cooked using Riceflour mixture.

Maruya - Finished Product

Well, ive learned that this "Pounded Maruya" tastes a lot better because it has more flavour..

So here it goes .

Ingredients:

one whole set (isang piling) Banana (Saba)

half cup Baking powder

one cup Flour

one cup Sugar

two eggs (optional)

half cup milk (optional)

Banana Leaf (optional)

Step 1

Peel off banana skin and prepare them for pounding. You can use mortar and pestle. Slice the bananas in small pieces to make it easy to pound. The outcome does not need to perfectly pounded. A little roughness is fine. Do this for all the bananas.

Step 2

Mix in sifted flour and baking powder to the banana. Add sugar. Optionally you can add eggs and milk for more flavour. Mix untill all ingredients are smooth. Your product will gain a little volume due to the baking powder. Try to taste if it needs more sugar.

mixing the banana paste with all the ingredients

Step 3

Scoop a good amount of the banana paste then put it in a small banana leaf.

The use of banana leaf is optional but it is one of the easiest and most conventional way to do this. Some would directly scoop and put in oil, however it comes messy because it is sticky.

placing the mixture in leaves

Step 4

Heat the pan. Put the banana leaf with the paste in the pan, the maruya will fall off the banana leaf a few second after it is drenched in oil, when that happens carefully remove the banana leaf. You can still use it for the next scoop. In replacement of banana leaf use wax paper, or in other provinces they use palm leaf.

frying the maruya

Fry the maruya evenly, medium to low, poke the middle with a toothpick to know if it is cooked already.

Step 5

Cool and place in basket with tissue paper to remove excess oil.

Serve with a chilling drink of your choice. For me i like to eat it with ice cream. :P

cooling..

For a really nice effect in serving, dash the maruya with confectioner's sugar or for more flavour, try adding cooked ingredients in the mixture likes raisins, etc. I love it with walnuts.

Have a happy meryenda !!