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.
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes to give away this week.
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