Eating a serving of it recently, we reflected on what we loved about it. The answer wasn’t the breading or the deep-fat frying or the even the whipped cream. Even the superior “banana tempura” found at some Japanese restaurants, covered in crunchy panko, wasn’t the answer.

It was the fruit itself: soft, warm banana.

The next day we started to experiment with a bunch of ripe bananas in our kitchen, and were satisfied with the results. Instead of fried bananas with caramel or chocolate sauce, we made sautéed bananas—“fried bananas lite.”

We loved the butter flavor so much that we ended up using half oil, half butter, for an extra hit of flavor.

Sautéed bananas as a garnish for a chocolate tart. Photo courtesy Arch Rock Fish | Santa Barbara.

Ingredients For 2 Portions

 
Preparation

1. HEAT oil in a small nonstick pan over medium heat.

2. ADD banana slices and cook on one side for a 2-3 minutes. Flip, sprinkle with brown sugar and heat for another 1-2 minutes until evenly coated. The bananas should be softened yet hold their shape.

3. REMOVE from heat, plate and top with optional syrup, ice cream and nuts.