I have always been curious about plantains. Giant, hard, green bananas. Bren and I were watching an episode of Postcards from Buster a few days ago (apparently Buster the Bunny from Arthur spun his own cartoon- as is the modern way) and it featured a cuban cooking lesson- fried plantains!
The lady in the show peeled a plantain with a knife. It’s harder to do than it sounds! Then she cut the plantain into about 3/4 inch thick coins. She fried these in oil until the sides had a golden appearance to them. Then she removed them, squashed them with a special gadget, and refried them.
I had to try it.
Two plantains cost me all of 68 cents. I lopped off the stem end of each plantain and used a knife to skin one side. Then I peeled off the rest of the skins with my hands. They felt like petrified bananas, lol. I cut them into the 3/4 inch coins and fried them. I didn’t have the special squashing gadget, but a heavy measuring cup worked fine. The petaled out like flowers whereas hers had been more round. I refried them til what had once been the insides of the coins started to brown. I placed them on paper towels.
While the cubans in the show ate them straight, I decided to sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on mine. Bad choice, because it didn’t stick very well. I ended up eating mine with honey and DH ate his with maple syrup. They tasted a lot like crispy banana french toast. 😀
I think they’d lend themselves to a cute mini dessert very well. I bet I could round the “petals” up to make a tiny bowl. Perhaps as the base for a dollop of banana pudding or half-dipped in melted chocolate and topped with a slice of banana? Mmmmm. Maybe a cream filling drizzled with caramel? 😉