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Kabalagala
Banana and cassava pancakes
Kabalagala: Kampala's little fried pancakes of sweet banana and cassava flour
Street sellers in Kampala pile these small, dense golden rounds into plastic tubs and sell them warm by the handful, and a whole lively neighbourhood of the city shares their name. Over-ripe sweet bananas are mashed into cassava flour, scented with cardamom and a pinch of chilli, then fried until crisp outside and soft and chewy within, a little like a doughnut that forgot to rise. Children eat them after school, adults dunk them in milky spiced tea at breakfast. The usual mistake is adding too much flour: the dough should be soft and just stop sticking to your hands, or the pancakes turn heavy and dry. Chef's tip: use bananas with black-speckled skins; the riper they are, the less sugar you need and the better they brown.
- Total time
- 35 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 4 ripe sweet bananassmall East African sweet bananas or 3 ordinary ones, heavily speckled
- 9 oz gluten-free cassava flourplus a little for dusting
- 1 tbsp sugarskip if the bananas are very sweet
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp chilli powdera pinch, for warmth rather than heat
- ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 cups vegetable oilfor frying
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Peel 4 ripe sweet bananas into a large bowl and mash them with a fork until smooth and almost runny, with no big lumps left.
Step 2: Stir in 1 tbsp sugar, ½ tsp ground cardamom, ¼ tsp chilli powder, ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1 pinch salt so the spices are spread evenly through the mash.
Step 3: Add 9 oz gluten-free cassava flour a handful at a time, mixing with your hand, until you have a soft dough that holds together and just stops sticking to your palm. You may not need it all; stop before it feels stiff.
Step 4: Leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes so the cassava flour soaks up the banana and the dough firms slightly.
10 minStep 5: Dust the worktop with cassava flour and pat the dough out to about 1 cm thick. Cut rounds with a 6 cm cutter or the rim of a small glass, re-pressing the scraps.
Step 6: Heat 3 cups vegetable oil in a deep pan over a medium heat to about 350°F, or until a scrap of dough rises with steady bubbles within a few seconds.
Step 7: Fry the rounds 5 or 6 at a time, turning once, until deep golden brown on both sides. Banana sugar browns fast, so lower the heat if they darken before 4 minutes.
4 minStep 8: Lift out onto kitchen paper to drain, and eat warm, with spiced tea.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 390 kcal
- Protein
- 2 g
- Carbs
- 76 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does kabalagala take?
- About 35 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of ripe sweet bananas?
- Mango, same weight (in smoothies and shakes).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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