Yes, We Have No Bananas

I love to cook. That being said: there have been a couple of near-emergency-room-level cuts to my fingers over the past couple months, and I'm still wary of any recipe that calls for too much oil (the room getting hazy as I frantically open my high-rise apartment windows to their full inch-wide potential - what do I do?! what do I do?!). I thought for awhile I was going to have to stick with music, but then I found this:



The Ethnomusicologist's Cookbook, ed. Sean Williams

Très bien.
Each chapter is written by a different ethnomusicologist (including Tim Rice, Suzel Ana Reily, and a special poem by Bruno Nettl - big names!); recipes are paired with brief commentary and anecdotes about the experience of fieldwork, musical styles, and eating habits of particular cultures.
Fascinating AND delicious? I think so.

For you: a recipe from the chapter on Bali by Ni Wayan Murni and Jonathan Copeland.

Pisang Goreng (Banana Fritters)

1 c. plain white flour
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1 t. vanilla
2 c. vegetable oil
6 large, ripe bananas
1/3 c. sugar
2 T cinnamon

In a bowl, mix flour, egg, milk, and vanilla to a smooth batter. Allow to stand for 1 hour. Heat oil gently in a frying pan until almost smoking. Cut each banana into thirds. Dip banana pieces in the batter and carefully drop into the hot fry oil; fry until golden brown. If desired, roll the cooked fritter in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

("Music and food are both deeply integrated into Balinese life. Gamelan rehearsals take place in village meeting halls all over the island. As you walk through the villages, you hear their wonderful percussive sounds and are welcome to sit down and listen. Never very far away are ladies selling food in small stalls. Music and offerings, which always contain food, are intended primarily to entertain the gods and ancestors during the hundreds of ceremonies staged throughout the Balinese calendar of 210 days." p 103)

(I love this book.)