When I was in college I ate a lot of McDonald’s fish filet sandwiches.

I am not proud of this but, I was young, and broke, and loved that dang sandwich.

Once I was older and had more money, fish and chips, or a fried fish fillet sandwich was one of my go to orders on any menu that had it.

Then we went vegan and I missed fried fish, plain and simple.

And then one day I learned the magic a can of BANANA BLOSSOMS can yield, it was a game changer.

I probably had not had a fish sandwich or fried fish in over 5 years when I discovered this vegan secret.

The first step was finding the banana blossoms. Easy enough if you have an Asian market near by, but can also be easily ordered online, as well. (that said they are WAY cheaper at the Asian market than they are online)

I paid less than $2.50 a can for these blossoms. So between the “fish” fillets, buns, and toppings, you can feed 4-6 people for maybe around $10. You really can’t beat that!

For this recipe I also made a quick batch of vegan no rise hamburger buns. They are cheap and easy to make and are done start to finish in less than an hour!!

I used a beer batter for my fried vegan fish fillets, but you can use seltzer water if beer isn’t your thing. If it is your thing, then you are gonna extra love this sandwich!

These banana blossoms fry up fast and get extra crispy, perfect for this vegan fish sandwich, vegan fish and chips, or even vegan fish tacos.

The blossoms flake and full apart like fish, and with the help of some seaweed flakes and Old Bay for flavor, they make for the most convincing mock vegan fish!

So if you have yet to jump on the banana blossom bandwagon and have been missing some crispy fried fish or a crispy fish sandwich, this is your answer!

INGREDIENTS:

The Fish Filets:

2 cans banana blossoms in brine
2 tablespoons dulse flakes
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon old bay seasoning (optional)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 can (12 oz) cold beer, any beer is fine as long as it is not a dark thick beer
oil for frying

Sandwich Makings:

4-5 buns, store bought or homemade No Rise Buns
4-6 slices vegan cheddar or vegan American cheese
sliced dill pickles
lettuce

Vegan Tartar Sauce:

1/2 cup vegan mayo
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 - 3 tablespoons diced dill pickles
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons fresh dill
optional: 1 - 2 teaspoons capers

INSTRUCTIONS:

If making homemade no rise hamburger buns for this recipes, do that first. They are pretty easy, and start to finish take less than an hour.
Drain cans of banana blossoms and carefully remove the blossoms, laying them out on a paper towel to remove some liquid. They can easily fall apart so be careful. I found that only a few blossoms in each can were fully in tact. I simply took all of the loose leaves from each can and stacked them back together to resemble full blossoms. I have only been able to find one brand of blossoms on Amazon. I am uncertain if this is an issue with all canned banana blossoms, but stacking the leaves back together worked just fine for me.
Transfer the blossoms to a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with the 2 teaspoons of dulce flakes and a dash of salt.
For the batter, whisk together the flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, old bay, and the entire can of cold beer in a medium sized bowl. The batter will be thick.
To make the tartar sauce, whisk all of the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Heat a deep skillet with a few inches of oil over medium/ high heat.
While the oil is heating, begin carefully dipping the blossoms into the batter. For any blossoms that you had to reassemble, place them into the batter, and using a spoon, cover the top in batter. This will help keep the blossom in tact vs attempting to dip them. Carefully transfer the blossoms to the hot oil. TIP: if you are not sure if the oil is hot enough, place a chopstick into the oil, if tiny bubbles form around the chopstick, the oil is ready!
Fry each blossom for a minute or two on each side, or until they are golden brown. If they seem to be browning too quickly, reduce your heat a bit. Transfer the finished blossoms to a wire cooling rack that has been placed on top of a paper towel lined cookie sheet.
Build the sandwiches by spreading the vegan tarter sauce on both sides of the buns. Add a vegan fish fillet to each bun, along with some sliced pickles, a slice of cheese and some lettuce to serve.

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