5:51 PM

This is what I saw as I zoomed down to the main highway. The homeward bound craze that will lasts until around 7 PM. I want to go home, but I don't want to get caught in the mud down there. I don't want anymore glare at my wide LCD green. I don't want to read anymore text. I don't want to go down to the stinky basement.

Ever heard of "sale pisang" (dried banana)? well, "dried banana" is not really the proper translation for it. "hot-aired banana"? Anyways, this "dried banana" aka "sale pisang" (in Indonesian) is a pretty famous snack here. Yeah, us being "Banana Republic".. Making "sale pisang" is a way to avoid farmers from going bananas when they have an abundant amount of ripe bananas.

The recipe for "sale pisang" aka "hot-aired banana" below was found in the web site of "Litbang Hortikultura" aka "Indonesian Center for Horticulture Research and Development". Ripe bananas should be halved or sliced, then laid down under direct sun or in a special dryer. If using a dryer, the sliced bananas must be laid down on a bamboo sheets. The initial temperature is 45-50 degrees Celcius and after a few hours, the heat should be increased to 70 degrees. Drying process should continue until only 15% water remains in the banana. This may take somewhere from 10 to 20 hours. When there is only 15-20% of water remains, basically the banana is cooked and dried and ready to serve.

There are two versions of this "hot-aired banana" in the snack world. One is the wet version, which is explained here. The other is the fried version. When the banana is cooled, it should be thinly sliced and then dip into a flour batter and plunged into a hot oil. Fry until crisp. No.. it's not bacon strips for breakfast!

Despite unhealthy facts from a fellow nutritionist about the fried hot-aired banana due to its high content of carcinogens (because a fried product retains oil and when it is kept for months until its expiration date, it produces carcinogens and other health blah blah..), it is now sold in various taste i.e. cheese and whats nots..


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Image courtesy of: Myself.