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Plantains! o_O

Thu Jan 11, 2007 2:07 am

Well, I was at the store the other day and I came across some plantains.. (cousin of the banana) so I bought 'em. What should I do with them? (thats vegan) How can you tell if they're fresh or not (I mean, how can you tell if they go bad)? They kind of confuzz me, so.. though I doubt anyone knows what they are. XD

Thu Jan 11, 2007 2:15 am

This one time my Puerto Rican friend cooked for me, she sliced them into thin pieces and friend them in some oil. I know that even if they look black and nasty on the outside, they're actually good.

Now I feel like having some.

Thu Jan 11, 2007 2:21 am

Cut them up thinly, put some butter (or oil) in a pan, heat it up, fry until crispy on one side, then flip.
I'd suggest cooking on medium. I'm sure there are other recipies but thats my favorite way.

Thu Jan 11, 2007 2:22 am

Mmmm, platains. They don't really seem to get bad- as Spira said, they're still good when they look black and fairly gross. I guess you can tell they're bad if there are flies on them. oO

As for what to do with them... A central american café near my house makes REALLY good fried platains. Here's a recipe I found for them: clicky!

Basically, plaintains = <3

ETA: gah, in the time it took me to make this post, everyone else had already suggesting frying them. :P

Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:22 am

Ooh, I've always wanted to try some, but I've never seen them sold here in Australia.

Are they kinda along the lines of sweet potato or pumpkin, or am I on the wrong track? o_O (I know they're a banana relative, but I also heard they're less sweet and more ... solid)

Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:25 am

mazil wrote:Ooh, I've always wanted to try some, but I've never seen them sold here in Australia.

Are they kinda along the lines of sweet potato or pumpkin, or am I on the wrong track? o_O (I know they're a banana relative, but I also heard they're less sweet and more ... solid)


They look like big bananas.

Thu Jan 11, 2007 4:36 am

I was watching antique road show or something like that and someone brought in this weird object. It was a plaintain masher. It was for mashing slices of plaintain. I guess they slice them into circles but then mash the circles a bit before frying them. I seem to remember something about coating them in something like a batter or some coconut.

http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes.php?q=plantain

Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:22 am

SpiraLethe wrote:
mazil wrote:Ooh, I've always wanted to try some, but I've never seen them sold here in Australia.

Are they kinda along the lines of sweet potato or pumpkin, or am I on the wrong track? o_O (I know they're a banana relative, but I also heard they're less sweet and more ... solid)


They look like big bananas.

Ah, I shoulda worded it a bit better... I was actually wondering what they tasted like? :)

(in fact, it made more sense when I first wrote it... then I went back and edited it into it's now-confusing state)

Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:48 am

Eat it,if you die they weren't fresh.
Or they were and they're poisenous I suppose.

Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:25 pm

Setekh wrote:Eat it,if you die they weren't fresh.
Or they were and they're poisenous I suppose.


But I want my sister to live! D:
Yeah, I've heard of frying them a lot. I've never had them, though.

Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:15 pm

He's trying to kill me! MURDERER! *stabs Setekh with a piece of paper*

Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:31 pm

I know I'm late, but I grew up on them so I might as well.

Most people said fry them, that's what I would usually do with ripe plantains. Here is another recipe though, if you want to try something different. I don't like it very much but a lot of people do love it.

If they're not ripe yet (ie. they're green) you can actually boil them in salty (not too salty) water for about 30 mins (don't quote me on the time). Then you mash them together, using butter to make it easier. The oil or onions is optional. There are many things you can add, it just depends on what you like. (It tastes really good with fried cheese).

You can also fry green plantains. Cut them into slices and fry them, but not completely. Then you smash them so they're flat and fry them again for yum-iness. They cook better that way but you can skip the smashing part I guess.
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