Serves 2
Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 10 minutes
40 g (1½ oz) plain flour
pinch of ground mixed spice
pinch of salt
1 egg, separated
15 g (½ oz) butter, melted
75 ml (3 fl oz) sparkling water
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
1 firm, ripe banana
1 firm, ripe peach or nectarine
1 crisp dessert apple
icing sugar, to dust
Mix the flour with a pinch of mixed spice and salt in a bowl. Beat in the egg yolk, melted butter and sparkling water to make a smooth batter.
Whisk the egg white in a clean, dry bowl until stiff peaks form, then gently fold into the batter.
Heat 2.5 cm (1 inch) of vegetable oil in a deep heavy-based saucepan or deep-fat fryer until hot – 180°C (350°C), or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil browns in 30 seconds.
Peel and thickly slice the banana, meanwhile, then stone and slice the peach, and core and thickly slice the apple.
Dip the slices of fruit into the batter and deep-fry for 1–2 minutes, in batches, until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
Dust the fritters with a little icing sugar and serve piping hot with ice cream.
For apple fritters with berry sauce, thaw 200 g (7 oz) frozen mixed blackberries, raspberries and cherries, then purée in a blender or food processor with 2 tablespoons icing sugar, or rub through a sieve. Pour into a jug. Make up the fritter batter as above and use to coat 3 cored and sliced apples. Deep-fry as above. Dust with icing sugar and serve piping hot with the berry sauce.