A tasty treat for you!

Did you know that June is National Caribbean-American Heritage month? President Barack Obama proclaimed June as the month when we recognize and celebrate all of the societal contributions made by members of the Caribbean community. He has also sought to encourage more communication and interaction with the countries within the Caribbean. (One of his reasons for visiting Cuba).

As you may or may not know, I am from the Caribbean. I was born and mostly raised on a little island called St. Kitts (St. Christopher and Nevis) in the West Indies. My entire family hails from Grenada (also a small island in the West Indies). In honor of National Caribbean-American Heritage month, I am celebrating my culture here in Charlotte with you. I would love to be able to bring you all of the beaches, fruits and colorful houses I can find. Since I can't, I'd like to share with you a recipe for a breakfast food that was very popular in my home growing up: BANANA FRITTERS!!!

WHAT YOU NEED:

3 Bananas (very ripe, almost brown)

1 1/2 cups of flour

1/4 cup of milk

2-4 tablespoons of sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

2 eggs

dash of salt

oil (I'm fond of coconut oil)

DIRECTIONS

1. Peel the bananas and place them into a large bowl. Mash them with a fork until they are runny. Add the wet ingredients (milk, vanilla, eggs) to the bowl. You don't have to spend too much time whipping the egg, you just need the fritter to be a bit fluffy.

2. Mix the other dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt), in a separate bowl.

3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients into one bowl, mixing slowly. Mix them up until you get a nice, semi-thick consistency (it should be thinner than pancake batter, you just want everything to stay together).

3. Heat the oil on medium heat in the frying pan.

4. When the oil is hot enough, drop tablespoon size amounts of your mixture into the pan. (They should drop into the pan easily). They should spread out like tiny pancakes. The number of fritters you make depends on the size of the pan. A bigger pan would obviously allow for more drops but you want to make sure not to crowd the pan.

5. Wait until the edges are firm and then turn the fritters to the other side. Turn as needed to get a nice golden brown color, not too dark and not too light.

6. Transfer the fritters to a plate with a paper towel (to soak up excess oil) and serve immediately.

Overall this process should take about 30 minutes and produce about 25 fritters. I hope you enjoy. Let me know how it goes.

--Alison

PS- many of my mom's recipes involve using the words "dash", "pinch" and "jus' a lil bit" so feel free to play around with the numbers to better suit your taste buds.

PPS- some people sprinkle sugar on their fritters, but that's optional