Foodie Blog

Plantains

Plantains are a close relative to the banana and are sold at varying degrees of ripeness. Usually they are green when you see them in the shops and banana shaped. These green bananas are not at all sweet, and are quite firm in texture. Their skins need to be worked off with your thumb before being cooked and are a similar texture to a raw potato. They make tasty chips sliced thin, fried in oil and seasoned with sea salt and maybe a little ground cumin. Or you can grate them and add to soups and dice them up for curries.

Dole are bringing in a plantain that is wider and stubbier than other plantains that you see around. What struck me as worth writing about with the Dole plantains is what happens to them as they ripen. While dessert bananas only seem to be ripe for eating for a day or so before they dry out, the Dole plantains hold their moisture for a couple of weeks as they turn yellow then begin to blacken.

They are incredibly good eating at this stage and peel as easily as a banana with a moist sticky, almost creamy centre. They are as versatile as a regular banana so try them sliced on your morning muesli, baked in cakes and muffins as you would use a blackened banana or BBQed in their skins for dessert topped with dark rum and soft whipped cream.

Hear in another absolute treat for a yellow plantain. Peel and slice into centimetre rounds. Fry quickly on both sides in a lightly greased pan then sprinkle with vanilla sugar mixed with a pinch of cinnamon. Drizzle with genuine Canadian maple syrup.

Superb!

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Article © Genevieve Knights