Hi Everyone,
You may recall, that is, if you have been reading me that long, a column that I wrote a few years ago about my obsession with plantains; particularly green plantains. Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, or fry ‘em. Gimme my plantains!
When I lived in Guyana, every Saturday I would have green plantains for dinner. It was my dinner, not the household’s dinner. I don’t think they shared my love of the green plantain. Usually, I’d do a boil ‘n fry or I’d cut them into thick wedges and fry them and eat them just as is or with fried eggs.
I’m constantly on the look out for new ways to enjoy green plantains. When I first had Puerto Rican Mofongo – fried and pounded green plantains with garlic, oil and pork cracklings – I thought I’d died and gone to green plantain heaven. The pounded plantain made me think of foo-foo but it also cast my mind back to the kitchen of a family friend.
You know in the Caribbean we all have those aunts and uncles who are not related by blood but they might as well be because of the close bonds formed and connections made. Well, I have many such aunts and uncles.
I used to see Auntie Sattie peeling green plantains and cutting them into 1-inch thick rounds. She’d chop up some garlic and pepper and set it aside. The lorha and sil would be on the counter all set for work. Auntie Sattie would shallow fry the plantains in batches. While a batch was frying, she would take some of the garlic and the pepper and grind them to a paste and by the time a batch of plantains was finished cooking, it would go straight on to the sil along with a sprinkling of salt and be grounded up and mixed with the garlic and pepper and whatever little oil came from the frying.
Steam rose up from the sil, the perfume of garlic filled the air and the spice of pepper tickled the nose. My tummy would growl. I’d feel nakedly hungry! Every time I make plantains like this in my kitchen, I think fondly of Auntie Sattie.
Here in Barbados, green plantains are still my regular Saturday meal. I’ll cook them in the morning after returning from the market and have them for breakfast, lunch and yep, you guessed it, dinner too. To be honest, I only eat them for breakfast and then again in the afternoon about 4 because as you know, any kind of ground provision is rather filling.
Recently, I have taken to not just adding garlic and pepper to my ground plantains but also adding a piece of salt fish. The salt fish as you might guess, gives it an altogether new flavor. Sprinkled with some thinly sliced green onions, it goes beyond extraordinary.
At first, it was almost impossible to buy green plantains in Barbados. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of plantains, but all ripe. Bajans don’t really eat green plantains, only ripe plantains. To this day I still get asked, “So what are you going to do with the green plantains?” Though still not widely available, there are several vendors who now sell green plantains, particularly Guyanese vendors.
So if you’re like me and thoroughly green-plantain-obsessed, try this and be sure to have it with a big mug of tea.
Garlic-Pepper Plantains
INGREDIENTS
2 lbs. green plantains, peeled and cut into 1-inch rounds or thick wedges
4 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
Hot pepper
Oil
Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
1. Add 3 tablespoons of oil to a cold pan along with the garlic and pepper, place on medium low heat. When the garlic and pepper start to sizzle, reduce the heat to low and let cook until garlic is softened.
2. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
3. In a large pan, add enough oil to shallow fry.
4. Cook plantains in batches. As soon as one batch is done, add it to the lorha and sil or mortar and pestle along with a little of the garlic, pepper, oil and a sprinkling of salt and pound, grind until plantains turn into bits stuck together. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
5. Repeat until all the plantains are fried and the garlic-pepper-oil is used.
6. Serve as is or with a sprinkling of sliced green onions
NOTES
Take a 4 oz piece of boneless salt fish and boil it to remove some of the salt. Shred the salt fish and add a little to the plantains at stage 4. Repeat until all the salt fish is used up.
You will not need to add salt if you are using salt fish.
You can serve this dish with fried eggs or fried fish.
