This is a list of banana dishes and foods in which banana or plantain is used as a primary ingredient. A banana is an edible fruit produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa . [1] In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called plantains. The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant.
Cooking bananas are a group of banana cultivars in the genus Musa whose fruits are generally used in cooking. They are not eaten raw and are generally starchy. Many cooking bananas are referred to as plantains or 'green bananas'. In botanical usage, the term "plantain" is used only for true plantains, while other starchy cultivars used for cooking are called "cooking bananas". True plantains are cooking cultivars belonging to the AAB group, while cooking bananas are any cooking cultivar belonging to the AAB, AAA, ABB, or BBB groups. The currently accepted scientific name for all such cultivars in these groups is Musa × paradisiaca. Fe'i bananas from the Pacific Islands are often eaten roasted or boiled, and are thus informally referred to as "mountain plantains", but they do not belong to any of the species from which all modern banana cultivars are descended.
A banana fritter is a fritter made by deep frying battered banana or plantain in hot cooking oil. It is a common dish across Southeast Asia and South India.
Pritong saging, also known as pritong saba, is a Filipino snack made from ripe saba or cardaba bananas sliced lengthwise and fried in oil. The bananas used are ideally very ripe, in which case it naturally caramelizes and no sugar is added. When younger starchier bananas are used, it is often eaten dipped in muscovado sugar, syrup, or coconut caramel (latik). Unlike the similar pisang goreng of neighboring countries, it is not as popular as street food. Instead it is regarded as a simple home-made snack, most commonly eaten for merienda.