Plantains

[CraigC]

These starchy fruits that look similar to bananas are used quite often in Caribbean cooking. Simply peeled, sliced and double fried as tostones, let ripened until the starch turns to sugar, sliced and fried, like maduros or used as the base of other dishes. Cuban style beef and plantains come to mind, Recipe - Cuban Style Beef and Plantain Pie or a very popular Puerto Rican dish called Mofongo, Mofongo.

Do you have access to plantains, are they available in your region and have you cooked with them?

 

[medtran49]

When we make these at home (versus buying sliced/frozen) I always slice them several hours before and let them soak in salted water so they plump a little and absorb the salt. That way, you don't have to salt them after frying. That was the way a Cuban restaurant I used to like made them. They'd have plastic bins sitting around with slices in them in liquid, and I always wondered, so asked 1 day.

A tip on frying, ripe plantains burn very easily, the riper they are, the quicker they burn. So, frying them over medium heat or just under is the way to go even though it takes a little longer. They get cooked all the way through that way, but not burned on the outside.

If you buy green ones, they will take a good week to 10 days to turn mostly black. The more black you let them get, the sweeter they are.

Craig likes the green to yellow ones. They are prepared by either slicing very thinly and frying like chips/crisps that can be eaten as is or dipped in a mojo like sauce. They can also be sliced fairly thickly, fried, then removed from the oil, smashed and fried again. These are called tostones. We've also seen the green to yellow ones sliced very thickly, fried, then smashed gently to make little cups, fried again, then cooled and used for ceviche.

 

[caseydog]

I sometimes see them at Kroger, and can always find them at Sprouts. I haven't used any in a while. I don't think about them until I cook something Cuban/Puerto Rican.

CD

 

[Windigo]

There are plantains in the Asian stores here, and I do use them for curry or for my favorite Indonesian sweet treat (pisang goreng). Pisang goreng is fried plantain in a batter, served with savory food but does taste pretty sweet. I also eat them sometimes as Baka Bana, a Surinamese dish of fried plantains with peanut sauce. I guess I like fried plantains.