Fried buckwheat banana dumplings- vegan, ekadasi- friendly, gluten and wheat-free

Last Thursday was ekadasi, and because we've had twice as many ekadasi fast days lately, what with Baladeva Purnima the week before last and Sri Krishna Janmasthami last Monday as well as 2 regular ekadasis, I was needing something different from potato and pumpkin sabji! Plus there were some very ripe bananas left over from the Janmasthami cooking that needed using up... and this dessert was born. I wouldn't normally recommend deep-frying anything, but this is a bit of a treat! If you put them in yoghurt after cooking, or shallow-fried them as flat cakes they would be a kind of malpura. The quantities below would comfortably go round 4-6 people, as the dumplings are quite filling.

4 ripe bananas

300g buckwheat flour

200g gour, powdered/ finely crumbled

2 tabs fresh lemon juice

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• Mash the bananas
• Mix together with flour and gour in a large bowl
• Add the bicarb and the lemon juice (watch it fizz!) The batter should now be like a thick cake mix, or a wet, sticky dough
• Drop into hot sunflower oil in batches, about a teaspoon of batter for each one. There is a knack to this, which I began to acquire about halfway through the third batch... basically, keep the dumplings on the small side and the oil not too hot so that they don't overbrown on the outside while still being raw and gooey on the inside. Gently investigate with the tip of a sharp knife or cut one in half once out of the oil if you're not sure. The cooked dunplings will be quite dark because of the buckwheat, and crispy on the outside but softer and paler on the inside (see pic).
• I like to serve them hot/ warm, although they are still good cold. You could soften them in yoghurt or pour a little syrup over them for a really naughty treat. Personally, I find plain is good.