Recipe: Green Banana Vish Cakes
If you are searching for a vegetarian or vegan alternative to codfish cakes, try this recipe. The green bananas provide both the texture of the codfish and the starchiness of the potato while the seaweed and sea salt taste like the ocean. Combined with other staple ingredients, this recipe is a surprisingly tasteful alternative to the traditional Bermuda fishcake.
Celebrate Good Friday this week by getting outside with family and friends. Breathe in the clean air and laugh as you fly your kites. Eat your codfish cakes on hot cross buns with no worries. Indulge life. You have permission.
Recipe adapted from Roots Farm, Bermuda.
Green Banana Vish Cakes
5 green bananas
1 bunch parsley
1 onion (local preferred, they are in season)
5 garlic cloves (use more or less, to your taste)
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp sea salt (or more, to your taste)
1 tsp seaweed (or more, to your taste)
Flour
Grapeseed oil
Directions
Prepare the bananas
Wash bananas and cut ends off the tips and ends. With a sharp knife, carefully score the edges of the bananas. Peel the skin from the bananas, using a sharp knife or your fingers. Place the peeled green bananas in a large pot and cover the bananas with 2 inches of water.
An alternative to peeling the bananas is to leave the skin on and put them in the pot after scoring the edges.Bring the water to a boil, then cover with a lid and reduce temperature to a gentle boil.
Cook bananas until they are tender through, approximately 25 – 35 minutes. Check for doneness at 20 minutes by sticking the bananas with a knife. Add more water if needed.
Once bananas are soft, drain the water. Using a potato masher, mash the bananas, breaking up any large chunks. Aim for a smooth, yet chunky consistency. You want the texture of a fishcake.
Prepare the onion mixture
Peel and coarsely chop onion. If using a local onion, use the white bulb only and save the green part for a vegetable stock. Peel garlic. Rinse and cut the stems from the parsley, saving them for a vegetable stock.
Place onion, garlic, parsley and thyme in a food processor. Add sea salt and pulse until the onion and parsley look like a chunky salsa.
Tip the onion mixture into the pot with the mashed banana and add seaweed. Mix with a spoon.
Shape the vish cakes
Taste the mixture, adding sea salt and seaweed to your preferred taste. Aim for the taste of the ocean.
Check the consistency. Add flour if the mixture is too wet and will not hold a shape if you mold a portion into a ball.
Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to marry. Alternatively, you can skip to the next step and use the mixture immediately.
Form into rounded cakes approximately 3 inches wide and 1 inch tall.
Roll in flour before frying.
These vish cakes will hold their shape when fried. Use whatever oil and method for frying that you are used to. I prefer panfrying the vish cakes with grapeseed oil in a cast iron pan. Enjoy with a hot cross bun and all your favorite condiments.
To my 20 or so readers, I'll be back with more after Easter!