Monfongo Madness: plantains

Some women may buy gum or People magazine as an impulse purchase. I buy unusual produce. So I wound up with three plantains from the local asian market (in a stroke of marketing genuis, the store is called simply, Asia Market). Plantains may not be exotic in Miami, but they qualify as exotic here in the suburbs of Boise. I've had to-die-for patacones made by my brother-in-law who used to live in Ecuador, but I can't bring myself to fry anything in two inches of oil.

First, I got the low down on which stage of ripeness to use for different dishes.

Green: Green or greenish yellow are most likely to be in a chain grocery store. It has a starchy taste similar to a potato. Best in savory recipes. The plantain pulp is firm and whitish.

Yellow: Yellow has a slightly sweet taste but is still firm. Yellow skin may be freckled with black spots like a banana.

Black: I've never seen a black plantain in a grocery store, but this is the sweetest stage. Like a banana, it can have heavy black spotting to being completely black.

I looked at a few recipes for mashed plantains, sauteed plantains, boiled plantains and oven "fried" plantains.

I decided to try 'em two ways and get my Cuban vibe on... Oven fried (sprayed with olive oil) and mashed as Monfongo (inspired by this Whats4Eats recipe). There are as many ways to make Monfongo as there are to make spaghetti sauce.

After peeling them and slicing them on the diagonol, I boiled them for a few minutes in salted water. I then pan fried those babies in lard - REAL lard that I scored in a drug-deal like scene from a friend who rendered it herself. ("Hey, want some lard?" "Oooooh, lard? Is that even legal?")

They were getting dry, so I needed to add chicken stock to keep things moist. I decided to make a version of Huevos Habaneros. Iin a bit more lard, I sauteed (or fried?) two bell peppers, garlic, onion and mushrooms. Poured in about 1/4 c. sherry and then added a can of organic tomato sauce, smoked paprika and half a canned minced chipotle. I poured the sauce into a casserole dish and then cracked several eggs gently into the sauce, topping it with a small amount of cheddar cheese. (As a few other recipes used cheddar, I figured, "mmmmm..... cheese...."

After coating lighting in olive oil spray, I oven "fried" the remainder of the raw plantains on a baking sheet, per this tip from Prevention Magazine. But since I've suspected that my oven is running below temp, I cranked it up to 450 and then, um...got distracted. I did successfully get to test out all of smoke detectors, but I didn't get to meet any firemen.

The menu was Cuban inspired eggs, black soybeans mashed with corn sliced off the cob, oven fried plantains and monfongo. DEFINITELY a two-thumbs-up meal!




Prevention Magazine has some interesting tips on handling plantains. They note that peeled plantains can be kept under water in the fridge for several days. That would cut down on prep time!
About.com Latin Caribbean Food has even more plantain tips including How to Peel a Plantain!