A meal in Malawi is always first served to any guests, then the man of the house. Once they have been served with food, the women then the children are able to get their meal. Guests are always fed first as an honor and their plates are kept full until they can't eat anything else.

Desserts in Malawi are served on special occasions. One favorite dessert is zitumbuwa also known as banana fritters.

Recipe:

3 Very Ripe Bananas
1/2 cup Cornmeal
1 teaspoon Sugar
Pinch of Salt
Oil (for frying)


1. Combine the bananas, cornmeal, sugar and salt to make a stiff pancake-like batter.

2. Pour about 1 inch of oil into a pan and heat it until a drop of water sizzles in the hot oil.

3. Drop the batter into the oil by tablespoonfuls.

4. Fry zitumbuwa until golden on all sides.

5. Remove golden zitumbuwa from oil and place on paper towels or newspaper to drain.


You can serve the zitumbuwa warm on it's own or with some butter or roll the fritters in sugar.


Variations:

*Try adding 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg to the batter before frying.
*Add some ginger to the batter.
*Roll warm banana fritters in cinnamon sugar.
*Serve the warm zitumbuwa with vanilla ice cream.


Healthy Substitutions and Variations:

*Substitute Splenda© for the sugar.
*Leave out the salt.


Did you know that there are roughly three hundred species of banana, but only twenty of them are cultivated commercially? They are grown in at least 107 countries around the world and are the fourth largest fruit crop.

Bananas are an excellent source of nutrition. They are high in potassium - about 400 mg per banana which is good for muscular and heart health. Bananas are also a good source of vitamin B, copper, chromium, fluoride, manganese, selenium and zinc. Bananas have no fat, cholesterol or sodium.