Fried Plantains

So this is fairly simple, but you just need to know some things. I guess in Puerto Rico or Cuba, they call these Maduros. But in the Philippines, we just call them Fried Plantains. They are very simple actually, but one can still screw them up.

First, you can just buy regular plantains in the regular grocery store, nothing special. They are usually about 99 cents each. The key to these is making sure they are ripe. Now, this is the tricky thing. When they are ripe, they are usually black or at least look like they’re bad, but that is when they’re sweeter. I’ve never tried to fry one that’s green, but I used to buy my dad green ones and bring them back from Washington, D.C. (he lived in the rural sticks) And he liked to bring them to work and put them in the microwave for lunch. I’ve never done this, so don’t know what they’re like.

But I ripen them to fry. Once they’re ready, and they can still be a bit yellow, but have spots on them. Cause I get impatient.

Then you peel, and cut them into three sections. Then I slice the sections into 3 or 4 slices. How you slice them affects how long they take to fry up. If you slice them too thick, it might take longer. I guess some people like to slice them into discs or as long discs (at an angle), but however you like them, they all taste the same 🙂

You can flash fry them and just put in enough oil to fry them on both sides, but I try to put them in at least an inch of oil. You put them in and turn them when they’re golden brown. (turning once, 2 to 3 minutes per side) As you can see, mine are a little darker and that’s because I wasn’t watching them. They’re still good, just a little crisper than normal. 🙂

That’s it. Just slice up and fry or deep fry until golden. Place on a paper towel to drain.

They should be sweet. If they’re not ripe enough, they’ll be hard to slice because they’ll be inda hard still. Not the feel of regular bananas.

They can be a dessert or a side dish. Picadillo sometimes can be served with them on the side. YUM!