A tapa of plantain chips

Sometimes I wonder, how come I worked with food?

there are many explanation but one of them is fried plantain,

when I was a kid I simply loved plantain salted chips with chesse, and it was the first thing I cooked myself, so is very easy. One of the secret to make chips is to get it crispy on the outside and keep a good color.

This is perfect tapa for dinner or maybe to watch a movie, no kidding :)

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Plantain chips

2 people

-vegetable oil

-salt

-2 plantains peeled

Heat oil in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat. While oil is heating cut the plantain using a knife in thin chips, like is showed in the pic

To check if the oil is hot enough just trough a chip in there, if the chip fried and float immediately is ready.

To make it in thin strips, cut the plantain lengthwise with a peeler or manual a knife into very thin strips.

Fry them, but not together, first the chips and then the strips, turning frequently, until golden, 30 to 45 seconds.

Transfer with tongs to paper towels and sprinkle crisps immediately with salt.

see? is easy and tasty! look how it looks...yummy! you can serve it with chesse or a sauce or deep like guacamole, or saltziki...what ever you want!

ohhh! the sweet plantain temptation

Today is one of those days I miss the flavors of my city, the name of this is just perfect, is a sweetness that melts on the tongue, you have to try to understand what I feel. The Caribbean cuisine has a certain resemblance to the Catalan, in the majority of our dishes we like to mix sweet with salty. This is a very typical accompaniment in the Caribbean, but in my city we add an ingredient that gives much, much flavor and color. Is a red soda called Kola Roman and I think is only sold on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. I've searched every corner of Barcelona but it is impossible to get that drink. But I found a drink with a taste very similar, yehaaa!, is called Kola Inglesa from Peru, is available at Boqueria market, is a Latino store. See the picture below.

Ok, so lets do it!

The plantain temptation
What do we need?

For 2 or 3 persons:
-500ml of Kola inglesa (if you can´t get it, replace with Coke or just water, taste yummy too)
-2 ripe plantains
-1 cup of sugar
-1 cinnamon stick

Peel the plantains and put in pot, then add the Kola until cover the plantains, if not cover enough add water, add the cinnamon, the sugar and bring to boil and simmer over low heat during 15-20 minutes. The longer you simmer, the better it'll get.


hey, don´t cook this hungry, is bad for your patient ;)

enjoy it!

How to peel a green plantain

Some friends always ask me how i peel this vegetable, the thing is i explain but they forget later, thats why im gonna explain you in easy steps how to do it.

well, let's do it!

-First you have to cut off the both ends of the plantain and discard the tips
-then we hold the plantain firmly, slit the peel along the length of the plantain. Only cut as deep as the peel is thick.

Once cut, we remove the plantain skin, using your finger or a knife too, but the finger is the easiest way because you can handle it better is easy.

and that´s all.
Now the plantain is ready to cook.