Plantain Mod

[Midas Souza]

Prepthe plantains. Cut off both ends of the plantain, then with the tip of a sharp knife, make shallow slits lengthwise along the skin. Use your fingers to pry off the strips. With a mandoline slicer on its thinnest setting, slice the plantains into coins. Use two wooden spoons to toss the slices in a large bowl with the melted coconut oil.

Make the taco meat. Heat the coconut oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium heat, about 2 minutes. Add onion and cook until softened, about 7-10 minutes. In a small bowl, mix the garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, cayenne, and salt. Add to the onions and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Crumble the ground beef into the pan and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Push the meat to the side of the pan and drop in the tomato paste, frying until it darkens a bit, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and vinegar; stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes, until the liquid has reduced and thickened. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

If you have come to this page you are most likely intrigued about plantains, have never had them and looking for advice on where to start or have had experience with plantains but not sure what to do with plantains at different stages of ripeness. Well you have come to the right place. In this post, I hope to share a comprehensive guide on how to buy, store and cook plantains at every stage. This has taken weeks of putting together, testing and creating and I hope you enjoy it.

So now that you have brought back your plantains, you need to find somewhere to store it. If you want the plantains to ripe, you must store it in a nice warm place. Plantains are tropical starches and only ripe well when in a warm environment. To increase the speed of ripening, you will want to include a very red and plum tomato, ripe avocado or a ripe banana in a brown bag with the plantains and store in a warm dark place. These added fruits will release ethylene gas to speed up the ripening process.

The plantains are firm. They do not have as much sugar as the more ripe versions of plantains but they are still a great sweet addition to your foods. You can boil them, bake them or fry them. My personal favourite way is to boil them because they can hold up well and are still sweet. In Ghana we mash this with onions, peanut butter and palm oil to make eto, but I also love boiling this to eat with a sauce.

Cut the plantain into three, wash very well and place in a pot with enough water to cover the plantain with an inch above the plantain. Add salt and boil the plantain covered for about 15 minutes at medium heat. It is ready when you poke it with a toothpick or fork and it goes through easily. The finish product is firm but you can use a fork to cut through it easily

We will use this same method to fry plantains at all different stages. Slice into 1/2 inch thick coins. In a pan, add enough oil to coat the surface of the pan and heat the pan to medium heat to keep the plantains from burning. Place the plantains in the pan and cook on one side till the edges start to turn brown. This should take about 5 minutes, flip the plantains and repeat on the other side. Please pay very good attention to the plantains because you do not want them to burn and be raw inside. These should be a light caramel/ yellow-ish when you are done, firm but still sweet.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Slice the plantains into 1 inch coins and mix with coconut oil and some salt. Place on a baking tray lined with reusable silicon mat or parchment paper. Bake for 30 min flipping half way

These plantains are sweet and still starchy. They are firm when cooked and also firm with fried/baked or air-fryed. But even though they are firm, they are still sweet. This is the perfect yellow plantain in my opinion because I find it to be the most versatile amongst all these types. You can boil it, fry it, air-fry it and bake it

Following the same process outlined above, boil the plantains till soft. Keep an eye on it after the 10 minute mark because you can easily over cook it and it will turn mushy. So once you have passed the ten minute mark, check the plantains. If it feels stiff in the middle when you poke it with a fork or toothpick, continue to cook it till it is easier to go through. The finish product is soft and sweet

These plantains are very soft, but their softness opens up a whole new variety of recipes to try. I will be releasing more recipes to make with these so stay tuned. I will update this blog post as more of these recipes are released

You can fry soft plantains and people actually prefer these. You can follow the same process outlined above. Be careful with the oil because if it is not hot enough, the soft plantains will absorb it. But, if it is too hot, the plantains will burn and the inside will be raw. Keep it at a medium heat and keep an eye on it. It should be brown, soft and really sweet. If you are not too keen with soft textures, this might not be for you.

These plantains can function just like over ripe plantains in pancakes and banana bread. Be careful not to use them for smoothies or raw foods since they are starchy and need to be cooked. In Ghana, these are used for tatale/kaklo which are spicy plantain fritters

Yes you can definitely boil and steam these oil free. You can also bake and air fry these without any oil and they should work well. The only one cooking method that is not oil free is the fried plantains

If you are baking the plantains or air-frying the plantains and would like to use oil, I highly suggest using coconut oil. It really adds a nice flavour. If you are not a fan of coconut oil, a neutral oil like avocado oil is great. If you are frying, please use an oil with a high smoke point like avocado or vegetable oil. These can withstand the heat and will not cause smoking

My plantains were green with black spots and were very hard ( very, very hard) to peel. They have black lines running the length of the peeled plantain. Is this part of the ripening process or are they spoiled by fungi or bacteria? Are they safe to to eat?

Hello Emily and Suzanne, these plantains probably did not ripen properly. This sometimes happens to mine in the winter, if i buy them green and they are not placed in a warm place to ripen slowly. I suggest buying plantains that have already turned yellow or keeping green plantains in a warm place with either a tomato or a ripe banana.

Guacamole is believed to have been invented by the Aztecs in Mexico prior to the 1500s (source). It spread in popularity throughout Mesoamerica thanks in part due to the health benefits of avocados (source).

Plantains are grown and enjoyed in many tropical regions around the world, especially in the Caribbean, Latin America, and West Africa. They are a relative of the banana, but tend to be larger and starchier. Mmmm, starch.

I made this recipe with the guacamole tonight. It is totally easy and very tasty. We had it with a huge green salad. Fresh greens from the market.

It is a light and very satisfying oil free vegan meal.

Delicious and much healthier replacement for a regular chips and dip. Loved eating this, would definitely make it many more times to come. The only thing is mine cooked within 12 minutes, and some even burned due to my uneven slicing (my bad). But I know it all just depends on how thick the slices are. Best thing to do is to just monitor them closely as they cook to know what amount time each thickness requires.

Very good. Would suggest cutting plantains at an angle so chips are bigger. Very easy to cut on mandalin. In an attempt to use less oil, I used 1teaspoon of oil for 3 large plantains and they browned just fine. Rotating half way through is necessary.

Hi Dana!

Do you have any tips for easily peeling green plantains? I always have a hard time getting the peels off without mutilating the fruit. Inevitably, I end up buying only ripe ones to avoid this. Thanks! :)

These plantain chips are for the calorie conscious. Plantain chips have been my favorite for as long as I can remember and it is still very hard for me to resist a bag of plantain chips in the store. So imagine my joy when I discovered that my microwave plantain chips were 1/3 the calories of the store bought bag and realized I could have my cake and eat it too!

I love plantain chips! I am always on the lookout for alternatives to deep frying. I was thrilled to learn many years ago from a lady at an Indian grocery store that papadums can be done in the microwave without any added oil whatsoever. Been cooking them that way ever since.

Thanks Loretta. Like I said in the post, the only tricky part is mastering the timing in our individual microwave. So I tried 3 small batches to perfect the timing in my microwave. I love them too and if I can save 2/3 of the calories, more power to these chips;)

How do we cook the rice? Well, the plantains are very starchy, so the consistency is a bit stickier (kind of like sticky rice!) By cooking it with some chicken broth, we get an infusion of savory chicken flavor which also helps soften the plantains and cook them.

Try this recipe and tell me what you think. Or stay tuned for our plantain dough empanadas and plantain soup. For now, let me present you with a plantain dessert fashioned after my Upside Down Loquat Cake, which is a hit every year, and unlike loquats, plantains are available pretty much year-round.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. (A toothpick should come out clean.) Allow to cool slightly before flipping the cake over onto a serving platter, plate or cake plate. Enjoy warm with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream and toasted sweetened coconut.

Ok this is good. Had a couple friends for dinner and this really topped it off. Used your hatch chili pork recipe too. Wow. When living in Panama whose food is bland, and plantains are plentiful, ours mouths were watering.

Preheat your oven to 425. Peel and halve the plantains and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until they are cooked through and beginning to brown. Remove from oven, and reduce the oven temperature to 375.

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