If you know me, you know it’s my ongoing ambition to learn to cook like a local. I’m forever asking Noel at the vegetable stand, “what’s this?” (click here to read about jicama, starfruit, sorrel, star apple, sapodilla, and sea grapes) I’ve perfected (or perhaps perfectly bastardized) the quintessential meal here with my recipe for Belizean Stew Chicken the White Gyal Way, but I really wanted to learn how to cook plantains. Years ago Jessy made the most delicious fried plantain appetizers for a potluck party and I’ve always wanted her to teach me how it was done. Jessy is originally from Panama (read her expat interview here) and Gloria is from Venezuela. The local flavors of Belizean cuisine are reminiscent of the dishes they grew up eating and they were happy to hop up to the stove to show us how to prepare plantains properly.
First of all: you’ll need green plantains, not the ripe yellow ones, and some cheap oil for frying. The preferred frying oil here is 123 vegetable oil but my friends splurged on a bottle of coconut oil for this recipe and it made the entire kitchen smell wonderful.
Peel your plantains by slicing off the tips then making a shallow cut down the skin length wise on one side and wear gloves if you’re worried about your manicure. Cut sections roughly 2 inches in length like this:
Toss them in to the oil for their first fry. I don’t know how hot the oil must be OR for how long you let them fry; that seemed to be intuitive for Jessy and Gloria and they scooped them out once they were tender enough to smash.
So the pieces of tender plantain get flattened with a heavy glass or plate on to a chopping board covered with fresh, minced garlic and salt. Yeah, I forgot to tell you! Prepare a BUNCH of minced up garlic to smash your plantains on.
When you have them flattened you can throw them back in to the oil to fry a second time. Go hard on this fry, make them crispy. Once they look nice and crunchy lay them out on paper towels and top them with a healthy helping of queso fresco.
Add a spoonful of fresh salsa, it’s: chopped tomatoes, onion, squeeze of lime, MORE garlic. The girls made the cilantro optional because my husband doesn’t like it (pshhh, as if I care!).
Stu played bartender and kept the kitchen staff well lubricated throughout their evening of cooking. And here is the finished product:
I can’t wait to recreate these (I hope I can) for my local friends and really knock their socks off. It is so good! Fresh, clean flavors. The plantain is hearty and filling while the cheese is salty and fatty but the salsa’s acidity balances it all and I personally love the herbal taste of cilantro. 10 out of 10 ladies! Well done Jessy and Gloria.
*Plantains can be bought at your local veggie stand; I think I paid $1bz for 3
