Make Green Banana Hash!

As a Millenial Gentlewoman Farmer, I try to live almost exclusively off the fruits of my labor. My winters are bountiful, but summers in southern Baja are like their evil twin – winter in Oregon.  It gets so stinking hot and the sun so intense, everything in my garden shrivels and dies.  I stay inside much of the day, moving as little as possible in order to avoid the drenching sweats.  I am fortunate for two things:  I don’t really care to eat in the summer and when I do I have 27 mango trees dripping with fruit from July through September.  Mango?  I could live on that.

Unfortunately, the last of my mangos have fallen to the ground and baked to mango leather.  My dogs prefer them to rawhide, but they don’t strike my fancy.  When the last mango fell, it was a sad day here at La Finca de La Luna.  But Mama Nature has a way for caring for her own. I have three huge banana plants laden with bunches of bananas.  During the last rain, one bunch broke off and plummeted to the ground.

Great.  Bananas are not my favorite fruit.  Truth be told, I hate bananas.  So what is a woman to do with a 100-pound cluster of green bananas?

As it turns out, green bananas are an amazing, tasty treat that don’t taste like banana at all. They more resemble potatoes, but with a lighter texture and quicker cooking time.

So, what do you do with green bananas?  As a very lazy chef, I opted for hash browns.  The result?  Que Rico!

Green Banana Hash Browns
Serves 1

1 large green banana, grated
¼ cup finely chopped onion
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil for cooking

Heat oil in small, non-stick frying pan over medium high heat.  Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix with your hands. Once oil is hot, pour ingredients into pan and smooth out so it is the same thickness throughout.  Fry until crispy and golden brown, flip, fry until flip-side is crispy and golden brown.  Serve immediately.

These hash browns are so versatile; you can add anything, garlic, ginger, any herb, spice, whatever suits your fancy and the accompanying food.  These are also tasty with dipping sauces such as aioli, tarragon aioli, chipotle yogurt, wasabi sour cream, again, whatever suits your fancy.

Never again will I disparage the lowly banana.