When you think of bananas and plantains, something sweet comes to mind. With bananas; well obviously a sweet treat to eat without much hassle when bright yellow. Plantains, on the other hand are eaten fried or cooked after turning dark yellowish brown or even black. Some people may not be aware that both of these can be eaten "green" when their taste is savory, as opposed to sweet. Where I come from we cook green plantains into treats that can substitute french fries as an accompaniment for many entrees. Certain people have asked me how to make tostones, and I will therefore do my best to oblige on tonight's edition of WFD.
So, what are plantains?
Plantains are a member of the banana family. They are a starchy, low in sugar variety that is cooked before serving as it is unsuitable raw. It is used in many savory dishes somewhat like a potato would be used and is very popular in Western Africa and the Caribbean countries. It is usually fried or baked. Plantains are native to India and are grown most widely in tropical climates. (...) This vegetable-banana can be eaten and tastes different at every stage of development. The interior color of the fruit will remain creamy, yellowish or lightly pink. When the peel is green to yellow, the flavor of the flesh is bland and its texture is starchy. As the peel changes to brown or black, it has a sweeter flavor and more of a banana aroma, but still keeps a firm shape when cooked. The plantain averages about 65% moisture content and the banana averages about 83% moisture content. Since hydrolysis, the process by which starches are converted to sugars, acts fastest in fruit of higher moisture content it converts starches to sugars faster in bananas than it does in plantains.
Since we will be making the savory tostones, we need the green variety like these hanging from the "tree" in my front yard:
Preparation can be quite an ordeal for the un-initiated, so I suggest you give it a try a few times before you invite the neighbors over for an afternoon snack of tostones. Before I do anything, I wash my hands with the juice of a lemon to reduce the stickiness that inevitably results from cutting and peeling the fruit. Get a sharp knife and just pierce the surface skin lengthwise from end to end once without cutting into the "fruit". I also recommend you chop off the tip at either end, since this facilitates the peeling:
The peeling will test your resolve, so approach it carefully. I dig both thumbs into the center of the cut until I reach the surface of the fruit and begin prying the peel off carefully so as not to break or chip the fruit. The peel is brittle when green and won't come off in one whole piece, so chip away at it the best you can (with time, you will become an expert):
Once you have them peeled, dice each plantain into segments of one and a half inches in length (some people put them in salted water once peeled, but I don't see a need for this):
Fill a pot with enough oil (I use oils that can withstand high heats like canola and grapeseed oils) that it reaches about half way up each plantain segment when you put them in for the initial fry (three quarters of an inch). Put the burner on high and bring it almost to smoking. Carefully deposit the mini-barrels of plantain into the pot until the pot is full (see below). DO NOT FRY EACH SIDE FOR MORE THAN A COUPLE OF MINUTES. You want to cook only the outer portion of each plantain segment, so you fry one side for two or three minutes and then turn each one over and do the same for the other.
Disclaimer - This is my way of doing it. Everyone has their own way and, of course, EVERYBODY's way is better than yours. So they say! So figure out what is best for you. Just remember that you DON'T WANT TO COOK IT THROUGH AT THIS STAGE, so brevity of time is of the essence!
Remove each one and place on a napkin to drain until cool. After they have cooled, flatten them with a large tea-cup. There are many methods to use to flatten them. Nowadays, you can buy a plantain press. I use a large tea-cup with a slightly cupped bottom. You can see how mine come out (stacked like pancakes), below:
They look like little mini pancakes or corn biscuits.
Next, you fry each one a second time in a frying pan (not a pot). Make sure the oil is hot but not too hot (I usually start out with the burner on high and once I put in three or four tostones in the hot oil [careful, as they will spatter!!], I bring it down to half). WATCH THEM CAREFULLY SO THEY DO NOT BURN! Remove them from the oil and place to drain on a couple of napkins. They tend to soak up quite a bit of oil, so you will need to renew the quantity in the frying pan, especially if you are making a lot.
Another option, at this stage, is to store them. After stacking them [as in the above photos], I wrap them in aluminum foil and freeze them until I want to use them. Then I just remove them from the freezer and fry them individually as explained in the "second fry", above. [note: Although I don't intend this to be a plug for any brand, you can actually buy the frozen tostones ready-made to fry, thereby saving yourself the arduous task I have just outlined here!]
Now that you have a platter of hot tostones, you will want to season them up. You can simply add salt or any of a variety of sauces. Some people put a garlic/lemon dressing, vinaigrette or hot sauce on them. A lot of folks just shower them with catchup.
As I alluded to, you can substitute these for your french fries the next time you have a hamburger. Since I stay away (as much as possible) from red meat, I usually have them with fish. They are very filling, by the way, so don't eat too many.
Tonight I made a poached salmon (poached in white wine, water, salt, bay leaf, pepper and saffron) and piled on a salsa verde from one of Claudia Roden's cook-books. Accompany the fish with Maracatu's West Indian tostones dipped in an oil and lemon dressing. You could opt to put the salsa verde on the tostones, but I didn't quite like the combination.
To wash down your tostones and salmon in salsa verde, what better than an exotic tall thirst quenching glass of dovyalis hebecapa. What?, you exclaim! Here I have a few for you to make a drink that will vaguely resemble cranberry juice. The plant on the left in the pot is a very young dovyalis hebecarpa, also known as "Ceylon gooseberry":
Or you can have lemonade (as my tree is full, see below). I included a sample of this year's over-abundant avocado crop (try smothering some avocado on your tostones before bathing them in the lemon/garlic dressing! Yum!!) However, I'll wager that most of you have never seen (let alone tasted) that oblong yellow berry-like fruit I placed in the center of my cutting board. They are yellow mombins, or hog plums. We call them jobillos and they're delicious, if you can get over them being used as cattle feed.
I dedicate this diary to my late mother, whose birthday is today. She made a fabulous Piñón de Plátano Maduro [a sort of "lasagna" with sweet fried plantains in the place of the pasta], and would be pleased to see what is growing in her garden today. So what are you having for dinner?
Also posted at Politicook.