If you asked me a year ago if I would be making this Indonesian fried banana snack in Paris, I’d laugh out loud 😂
Jump to RecipeThe last thing I’d ever expect to experience during my Paris trip would be holding onto a plate of freshly fried piscok in the Parisian métro! Piscok, a sweet street food famous in Jakarta, is basically fried banana and chocolate wrapped in lumpia wrappers. The name itself is an abbreviation of the words “pisang” (banana 🍌) and “coklat” (chocolate 🍫).
A potluck in Paris
Let me rewind back a little bit; I attended a French language school in Paris, France, to work on my long-neglected French language skills. My school was located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, and I had the loveliest time there. Our class was focused in oral communication, and having classmates at a similar language level really helped in gaining the confidence necessary to speak French with the very, very particular Parisians. (Merci Michael!)
The students came from all over the world, with some seeking a permanent stay in the French capital and others simply following their passion. I belonged in the latter category, and the whole month passed by so quickly with the intensive daily classes.
When the time came to say goodbye, the school organized a potluck for all students. We took our time to pick out the tastiest dishes or snacks from our respective countries, and I picked piscok!
With only a small shared kitchen handy, I didn’t want to make anything too complicated. This street food only needs a few ingredients, and other than the frying process, is one of the simplest dessert I could think of making.
At the event, I was delightfully surprised by how much of a hit this dish was with my teachers and classmates! It was not long until I saw the plate completely emptied. The combination of banana and chocolate will never go wrong, and the scrumptious crunch didn’t hurt either! Hungry yet? 😉
How to make piscok
I did have to head to Tang Frères, the asian market in the neighborhood of Place d’Italie, to get the lumpia (not egg roll!) wrappers. Other than that, I only needed bananas, chocolate, sugar, and a little flour. I wrapped 1/8 of the banana and a little chopped dark chocolate in the lumpia wrapper and stuck the edge on with a little flour-water paste. The rest is just assembling and frying the yummy piscoks!
To add a little crunch and more sweetness (since I used dark chocolate), I made some dry caramel and drizzled it all over the crunchy, freshly fried piscoks. I think Nutella would also totally work as a replacement for the dark chocolate. I just didn’t want to deal with the messy process of spooning it on. On a second thought, maybe using refrigerated Nutella would totally elevate this dish! Feel free to try out the recipe below and let me know if you have any questions 💕
Piscok (Indonesian Crispy Fried Banana and Chocolate Rolls)
Ingredients
- 20 sheets frozen spring roll pastry
- 3 bananas (large) cut into 1/8
- 1 bar chocolate dark or milk, chopped into pieces
- 80 gr sugar
- cooking oil to pan fry
- optional Nutella
Instructions
Assemble Piscok
- On a clean work surface, lay down one spring roll wrapper, pointy side down and resembling a diamond shape.
- Put a banana piece (1/8th) on the lower part of the wrapper.
- Add chocolate pieces (or Nutella) and a little sugar.
- Start by taking the lowest point and folding it over the filling. Roll it forward until it reaches the furthest point.
- Optional: Cut the long ends if it does not fit onto your frying pan.
Fry the Piscok
- Pan fry the piscok rolls until golden.
Make Caramel
- Add the sugar onto a clean pan.
- Turn on the heat, leave it alone, and watch the color.
- Once the sugar melts, watch the color. Take it off the heat when it is slightly lighter than the color you are aiming for. Be careful and do not burn the caramel.
- Drizzle caramel over fried piscoks. Enjoy!