Someone asked about plantains, to peel, cut peel on diagonal with a sharp
smallish knife along the inside of the curve of the fruit, which should
inable you to remove a lot of the peel, then just cut the rest off.
(People who eat plantains daily always cut towards themselves, not away)
Many plantain recipes contain oil or are fried, however there are a few
that are not.
Green plantains can be cut up and added to any vegetable, broth based soup.
Their function is as a starch, like potatoes or yuca (cassava). It is a
nice change of pace from potatoes although they often accompany potatoes in
soup. This is very common in the Dominican Republic, among other places.
They can also be chopped up in largish pieces and boiled (for a good 20
minutes). This is commonly a breakfast meal as it is extremely bland. I
do not personally care for it, but it is the breakfast of choice for my
husband.
Mature plantains can be baked. The idea is to cook them enough to make the
sugars start oozing, they get kind of slimey when cooked, but they are
really delicious. This can be done in a pam-sprayed baking dish. They can
also be baked casserole-style with white cheese, which is really really
really nice. These are all Dominican recipes, but I can't remember what
they are called. (Beyond "Platano al horno") I would recommend bland
cheeses that melt easily.
If anyone wants to know more about plantains, please mail me personally.
Tammy in Georgia
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