Cook the Book: Plantain Shoestring Fries
Plantains are not that popular in the U.S., but the rest of the world eats them up. They are a starchy staple of many tropical countries' diets. Wikipedia lists no fewer than 23 regional dishes that revolve around plantains. In the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, and Venezuela they are sliced into chips and called plátanos maduros. In Cuba they are mashed into a porridge known as fufu. Plantains are fried in Ivory Coast and served with a tomato onion sauce and grilled fish to make aloco.
This recipe for Plantain Shoestring Fries from Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes is a great introduction to cooking with plantains. Most stores sell ripe and unripe plantains; they both look like giant mutant bananas, except that one type will be green and firm and the other will be black and soft. This recipe calls for the unripe, green variety, which is starchy enough to fry up crisp.
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Plantain Shoestring Fries
- serves 4 to 6 -
Adapted from Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes by Bobby Flay.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons grated lime zest
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
5 cups peanut oil
4 green plantains
Procedure
1. Stir together the salt, lime zest, and cayenne in a small bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed medium stockpot over medium heat, or a tabletop deep fryer, to 375° F. Line a baking sheet with paper towels and set aside.
3. While the oil is heating, peel the plantains. To peel the plantains: use a sharp knife to cut off the top and bottom ends. With the tip of the knife, make one slit in the skin of the plantain from top to bottom. Run the plantain under cold water and use your thumb and fingers to work the peel away from the fruit, beginning at the slit. Cut 1/2 inch off the ends of each plantain, then slice the plantains lengthwise with a U-shaped peeler or a mandoline into very thin strips ( about 1/8 inch thick). Cut each strip lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick fries.
4. Fry in batches, turning frequently, until golden brown, about 45 seconds. Remove with a mesh skimmer to the baking sheet lined with paper towels and season immediately with the salt mixture.
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4 Comments:
This is a pretty good book. It's a little too foo foo fancy in some parts though. What I got from it was a great recipe for oven roasted potatoes and a few of his milk shake recipes. We also made the garlic butter burgers and they were wonderful as well. It's also a good book for the people who have no clue about preparing burgers too. Bobby is the Ambassador of Good Food.
jkdrummer at 2:54PM on 07/03/09
thanks - i love savoury plantains. the sweet ones remind me of bananas, which i can't stand - never made french fries with them! i usually par boil the plantain, dice it up and stir fry it with mustard seeds, a dash of unsweetened coconut, salt and cayenne pepper until the plantain is crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. will try this out!
nithya at hungrydesi at 5:23PM on 07/03/09
the first time i had a plantain, it was at a cuban restaurant in l.a. & tuna tartare was served on top of it....so delicious!
gastronomeg at 10:15AM on 07/04/09
Platanos Maduros = the soft ripe plantains which are singularly unsuitable to be cut into chips.
For chips you would want Platanos Verdes (green plantains) which are sliced and fried to make Platanos Fritos.
Never in my life heard of fufu, that sounds like a Puerto Rican thing to me.
redfish at 3:02PM on 07/04/09