How to Cook With Plantains

Plantains have been a fixture of Latin-American cuisine for hundreds of years. These delicious fruits are inexpensive and versatile, making them a perfect accompaniment to many different dishes. They're easy to prepare, too. The following steps will help you cook with plantains at home.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Green plantains
• Yellow plantains
• Skillet
• Cooking oil
• Salt
• Butter
• Cinnamon sticks
• Brown sugar

1. Find a store near you that sells plantains. Some large grocers carry them, but your best bet is a Latin-American or international foods market. These stores carry the widest variety of plantains.

2. Choose ripe yellow plantains and not-quite-ripe green plantains. If you're not planning to use the plantains for several days, pick not-quite-ripe yellow plantains and unripe green ones. Just give them a squeeze--unripe plantains feel much the same as unripe bananas.

3. Decide whether you want to cook savory or sweet plantains. Green plantains are best for savory dishes, while yellow plantains are perfect for sweet dishes.

4. Fry both yellow and green plantains for excellent, crispy chips. Just peel the plantains, and slice them vertically into quarter-inch sections. Drop them in a pan containing about 1/2 inch of super-hot oil. Green plantains take about 30 seconds per side, while yellow plantains take about 45 seconds per side. When the plantain chips are done, drain them on paper towels, sprinkle with salt and enjoy.

5. Use yellow plantains for a sweet side dish. Melt a half-stick of butter in a warm skillet. Then cut 4 plantains into 3 sections each and place them in the skillet. Add 2 sticks of cinnamon and 4 tbs. of brown sugar. Cook the plantains for 3 minutes on each side, or until they yield easily to a fork. Serve the plantains hot, spooning the butter-cinnamon-sugar pan sauce on top of them.

Tips & Warnings

• Fried plantain chips can be topped with queso fresco for a fresh twist on traditional nachos.
• Serve sweet yellow plantains instead of yams to bring variety to holiday meals.

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[MsCorrection]

on 3/13/2008 With all due respect, this is very confusing. I have noticed that many valid food websites have misinformation on how to cook: traditional tostones (flat), tostones rellenos (stuffed cups) and maduros (ripe), and when to use a Green or Ripe plantain. A green plantain is, well, green w/a thick outer skin & used for tostones, flat or stuffed. Maduros or ripe plantains can be black spotted or even fully black, and very soft, producing "platanos maduros” which are almost dessert-like in their sweetness.

As for how to cook the plantains, you have a few people on your site with great recipes.