Tostones! {Food of the World}

Cuban food is comfort food to Rick. He grew up eating a variety of Cuban recipes cooked by his mother, who lived on the island nation for a few years. Tostones are a popular side dish all over Latin America and the Caribbean. Rick was very happy when I brought plantains home from the market for this month’s Food of the World challenge. We served our tostones with picadillo, another Cuban recipe.

A few years ago we took our first (and Rick swears our last) cruise to the Bahamas. On the way to the Caribbean the ship stopped in Cape Canaveral, Florida. People flooded down the gangplank to visit the space center or to board buses to visit Cocoa Beach. We took the bus and while we were walking around we came across a little Cuban restaurant called Roberto’s Little Havana. We enjoyed their tostones as well as a preparation where plantains were formed into cups to hold a serving of ropa vieja.

For my 50th birthday we returned to Cocoa Beach and stayed in a delightful beachfront condo. Once again we found Roberto’s Little Havana and enjoyed a delicious meal. That was the last time we had tostones. I think we need to make them more often!

Plantains are larger, less sweet and more starchy than their banana cousins. They get sweeter as they ripen, but in general plantains are cooked before eating rather than eaten raw. They can be challenging to peel when green. First cut off the two ends, then run a sharp knife down one side of the plantain, try not to cut into the flesh. Use your fingers and brute force to remove the peel. (Wiki) We’ve cut our plantains into coins, but they can be cut in any shape to suit the recipe.

Fry the plantains, in batches, in about a half inch of neutral flavored oil (I used sunflower oil). It takes a couple minutes per side for them to turn golden colored. Drain the plantains on a some paper towel until they’re cool enough to handle. At this point the plantains could be served. They’re called maduros after the first frying.

After the maduros have cooled slightly, smash them flat using a flat bottomed cup, plate or pan. (If you wanted to, you could freeze them at this point. No need to defrost before frying if you’re pressed for time, just be careful when adding them to the oil.) There’s no need to change the oil between the first and second frying, but remove the pan from the heat while you’re smashing as you’ll want to take care not to over heat the oil.

Bring the oil back up to temperature and fry the smashed plantains for a second time until they’re crispy and golden. Drain them again and sprinkle them with salt before serving. We served ours with a simple sauce made of mayo and ketchup with a little Tabasco stirred in…it was meh. I wish we’d taken the time to make a nice garlicky mayo or the traditional mojo sauce.

Tostones!

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Course: Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: Caribbean, Latin

Servings: 0

Author: LydiaF

Ingredients

• 2 plantains peeled and cut into 1 inch coins (or one plantain per person)
• oil for frying about 1/2 inch deep
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a small skillet.
• Add the sliced plantains in batches and fry for a few minutes on each side until golden.
• Drain on paper towels until cool enough to handle. Remove the oil from the heat until ready for the second fry.
• Smash the plantains into rounds.
• Bring the oil back to heat and fry the tostones for a second time (2-3 minutes per side).
• Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt before serving.

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Two plantains made enough tostones for Rick and I. He destroyed his…ok, there was mutual destruction; but we took our time with the picadillo. What’s your favorite Cuban dish?

Update 2020: Unfortunately, the Food of the World is no more. I had a ton of fun researching the cuisine of a particular country and choosing a recipe that we would like and seeing what the other participants made.