Plantain fritters (Klako)
Plantain Fritters – Crusty on the outside and dense on the inside made with overly ripe plantains, brown rice and spices. Gluten free, paleo and vegan side dish.
I just hate throwing away food, but sometimes I have to. I wish recipes would just work out on the first try, surprise surprise, they don’t!
It takes a couple of tries to get it perfect. However, if there is one food that I hate throwing out it’s plantains, I just love them – one of my all time favorite side dishes. I know you have heard me say this a lot, but I just do – fried, grilled and baked are my favorite ways of enjoying them.
So, I can’t help it when shopping for plantains, I pile them on – especially when I see the big, round, plump ones (yes, they do have skinny plantains).
I’m always certain of what I would love to use them for, then I get forgetful and before I know it, the plantains are dark, start looking ugly and squishy – sometimes even start to give off a funky smell. Recently, I have been on the look out for ways to use plantains.
Here is a really good way to make use of them. It doubles up as side dish or snack and can be savory or made into a sweet treat.
In the recipe, I used brown rice. Why? Because I wanted to use up a 25-pound bag of brown rice hubby bought because he read some report on the news about consuming brown rice.
After giving it a try he says, it doesn’t taste quite right. What’s a girl to do?
Adding the rice in these plantain fritters gives it texture and makes it somewhat sturdy enough to withstand the frying – it makes them crusty on the outside and dense inside. For a light plantain fritter you can use oatmeal flour, cornmeal and any other flour or trying using less flour.
When I’m making a sweet snack, I usually go for oatmeal or whole wheat flour, then add nutmeg, cinnamon and about a ½ teaspoon of vanilla.
This one is more of a side dish that you can pair with any meal or eat as a snack – savory and sweet. Flavored with garlic, onions, cayenne pepper, and parsley. You can make your own ground rice by using a coffee grinder. Do not over do it with the coffee grinder, it will burn the engine. I let my son help me with the grinding and he killed the coffee grinder.
Luckily, I can pick up another one online and get it in less than no time.
Make sure to test out the fritters by frying one, and then adjust ingredients to taste, before frying the remainder of the batch. You may use a spoon or your hands if the balls are too soft to form a ball.
Serve this with this pepper sauce here or with these beans here.
These are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Fresh off the pan, the crunch is crackling – it fades as it cools down. So best enjoyed hot or warm.
Enjoy!
Watch How To Make It
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Plantain Fritters (Klako)
Ingredients
- 3 large overly ripe plantains or bananas
- 1 cup or more rice . oatmeal or whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt or more adjust to suit preference
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/8 cup 2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
- 2 tablespoons green onion finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
- 1/2 -1 teaspoon cayenne pepper or pepper sauce (depending on your tolerance level
Instructions
- If using rice- grind in a coffee grinder until finely ground or use any flour.
- Mash plantains with a potato masher or spoon until puree or use a food processor to blend.
- In a medium bowl add rice, baking powder, salt, garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper to the mashed plantains. Stir in green onions, onions and parsley until fully combined.
- Adjust seasonings.
- You may have to do a test taste first.
- Using your hands roll about a tablespoon of mixture in the palm of your hand into little bite size balls or use spoon to scoop it out.
- Heat oil to 350 degrees in a skillet or saucepan. You may also use the oil test by dropping a 1-inch square of bread into the oil. If it takes 60 seconds to brown, then the oil is at around 350 degrees
- Carefully place spoonful of the batter into the hot oil and fry for 3-4- minutes, or until the fritters are crisp and golden-brown (you may need to do this in batches).
- Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- You may drain on paper napkin to remove any excess oil
Nutrition Information:
Can this batter be refrigerated??
Hi Anisa. I don’t highly recommend refrigerating the batter as plantains or bananas are kinda tricky. You can use up all the batter tho and refrigerate the cooked klako for up to 2 days and just reheat them when ready to serve. ALthough it’s not quite the same as the freshly fried ones. Hope this helps.
Hi there, to ensure a crunch I rolled some in panko and some in cornmeal. Both were big hits with my family.
Thanks for sharing that tip.
Happy to have the recipe of the fritters, but you forgot the recipe of the sauce with which to eat the fritters with.
Hi. Please check out the full recipe of the sauce here >> https://www.africanbites.com/african-pepper-sauce/
Hey! It’s actually spelled Kaklo and we occasionally add some palm oil to make it taste better.
I thought there was palm oil added. Similar dish we make in Ethiopia
Amazing! A’ma try this 2mro. Thanks
Awesome ! Do let me know how it works out for you. Thanks
Just love this site but when I saw the Plantain fritters I had to get to the store, I’ve been eating plantain fried since I first went to Jamaica in 1966. These fritters look so amazing!! I love all this food as it is so healthy and reasonable.
Aww thanks Robert. Plantains are one of my favorites starch sides and it can be used for a variety of meals.
This sounds interesting. Would bananas work with this? I have three overly-ripe bananas on the counter that need to be used up immediately if not sooner, lol. If plantains are a must, I’ll have to try this another time. It does sound good, though!
Karen, bananas would do just fine. Let me know how you like it