Mishaps and Mmm's....

The Do's and Don't's of Cooking a Plantain

Today I went to an Hispanic grocery store that opened up fairly recently in my town. Having never been there before, I spent a good part of my lunch break perusing the aisles and examining all the authentic cuisine that was available. I picked up some unsweetened (!) shredded coconut, sesame seeds, and a couple of lemons for some lemon poppyseed muffins I'm making later this week. Also, I found plantains (for more on plantains, click here).


Not that they don't carry plantains at my usual grocery store. They do. But try as I might, I can't get those plantains to cook the way they're supposed to. The first one I tried was green.

Not a good choice. The resulting slices ended up tasting like thick french fries. Which isn't bad, but not exactly what I was going for. The second try was a little better.

 But the pieces were still tough to cut, and I completely burnt this batch to a crisp.

Not pretty.

So finally, I end up in the middle of the produce section of this little grocery store, and happen upon the perfect plantain:

 Don't let the color repulse you. When it looks like this, and is as mushy as a bad banana, it's perfect for frying.

Slightly crunchy on the outside, chewy soft fruit on the inside...you must try these at least once...or 300 times :)
For a step by step look at how to cook plantains, look here, or at the new "How to" tab at the top of the site.