Plantanitos, or Fried Plantains

I’m not a fried plantains girl. I’ve never had the urge to start cooking with them or trying out a new recipe, indeed, plantains are reserved for a once-a-year occasion – The Heritage Festival. We’ve tried them there in various forms at the booths and enjoyed them, but I’ve never been inspired to make them at home.

And then. (Every good story start with that. AND. THEN.Completely horrifying in every grammatical way.)

I wanted to try a new place, so away to El Rancho here in Edmonton, Alberta we went. I saw the good ratings on Urban Spoon and lord knows I have been looking for good Mexican food here in Edmonton, heck, every where I go I search out a mole. ( mo-lay, a gorgeous Mexican sauce to put on enchiladas, meat, etc.) While I did have the mole – very nice- it was another dish that rocked my taco socks off.

Plantanitos.

Say what?

Exactly.

Fried plantains with sour cream. That’s it, that’s all. If I hadn’t read rave reviews on Urban spoon about them I never, ever would have thought of this combination.

How to Make Fried Plantains

Ingredients

• 2 plantains (half a plantain per person)
• 1/4 cup of salted butter
• 2-3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of sour cream

Directions

1. Peel the plantains and then slice in half length-wise.
2. In a skillet on low heat, melt the butter and sugar together. Place the plantains in the skillet and cook for 5-6 minutes on one side, or until it’s browned nicely. Flip carefully to keep the plantain intact and cook the other side for another 5-6 minutes, or until the plantain is soft all the way through.
3. Remove from the heat and place on a plate. Dip in the sour cream and enjoy!

Oh, we all had the requisite meals, my daughter had a plain cheese quesadilla, I had an enchilada with mole, my son the tacos and Mike a steak burrito (fabulous!). We all shared some fried ice cream to end the meal.

Still, after all these years, he loves to mess up a picture on me.

What are plantains?

Plantains are those large, green beasts you see in the grocery store that look like bananas…want to act like a banana…are really close to bananas…but so aren’t bananas. They are a harder version of a banana, ripening when the skin on the plantain is closer to black then yellow and more meaty due to their lower water content.

When cut open they are far more peachy colored than a banana inside as well.

While I can’t say that the plantains at the restaurant had brown sugar on them, I knew that I wanted these sweeter than the ones I had eaten. When it’s paired with such a strong sour taste, you really have to combat it with some sweet and salt (in the butter.)

The brown sugar will crisp up a bit, giving you lovely little crunchy sugar bliss to enjoy.

 So, what do you think? Are you brave enough to try these? Do you like sweet and salty? Are you into different tastes and textures mixed into one dish? If you answered yes, then I would say this is the dish for you.

Do it. Play with plantains.

I can’t suggest enough that you really should try these with sour cream – oh heck, Greek yogurt! Yum! – and see how adventuresome your taste buds are! You simply MUST let me know if you try these and be honest! Like I said, only my son and I liked them and Mike and The Rose didn’t at all. I just had to share this unique recipe though

Love,

Karlynn

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