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Fried plantains have become my go-to late night food. There is a restaurant just across the street from my apartment that is open 24 hours and while the food is horrible, overly fried and tasteless, they make great plantains that are just the perfect ending to a long night! Yesterday I was strolling through Essex Market in the Lower East Side and the Batista Mini Market had a deal for their green and yellow plantains. Tostones are savory plantains that are served with sauces and are made into chips; they come from the green plantains. The peels can be difficult to remove and require a little force. The banana itself is very firm. Maduros are the sweet fried plantains, often cooked with brown sugar; they come from the yellow plantains. I decided to make tostones, twice fried, and serve them with some sea salt, cilantro and fresh avocado. They are also delicious with a pesto-garlic sauce or a sour cream based sauce with lime zest, or just standard chili pepper sauce. They are best served warm and just patted for excess oil. In the picture below, the green plantains are on the right and the sweet yellow plantains are on the left. Yellow plantains are tasty to eat before being fried while green plantains taste a little waxy before they are fried.
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Green Plantains
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Directions:
1. Using a sharp knife, carefully slice the plantain peel and remove skin. Slice the plantains into 3/4 inch slices on a diagonal.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan until it is bubbling and fry the plantains for two minutes on each side. I used two forks to flip the plantains over. Then remove the plantains and put them on paper towels and let them cool for 5 minutes.
3. Using a heavy solid object (I used a salsa jar) press down on the cooled plantains and squash them so they are about 1/2 the thickness. In this pictured you can see the squashed plantains on the right.
4. After flattening all the plantains, put them back in the oil and fry on each side for about 4 minutes.
5. Remove the plantains and pat them with a paper towel to remove the excess oil. Sprinkle some kosher salt on them and serve warm.
3 comments:
They look like an amazing late night snack and I love that they don't use any batter on the outside.
Hi. I found your blog and got hooked. I'm dominican and we eat this almost every day!! They're awesome!
We use them as a side dish for lunch with our rice and beans.
Thanks Alice! I love tostones too and I'm always on the look out for new tips and tricks. I wish I could eat these every day too :)
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