One of my favorite Puerto Rican snacks are tostones. Tostones are fried plantains that taste a little like chips. I guess they are in a sense banana chips but with a little more bite to them. I first had them on a trip in Puerto Rico. Since then I’ve been making them whenever I have the craving or see some really good plantains.
Indredients
- Oil for frying
- Deep fryer or pot
- 3 green plantains
- Salt
Method
- Peel the plantain and cut it into 1-inch chunks. Remember, this needs to be a very green plantain. No excuses or else you’re changing the name of the dish.
- Fill the deep fryer with oil. Turn on the heat. For deep fryers, I like to go 375 degrees. For the stovetop, I’d go medium-high. If you don’t have a deep fryer, use a pot. Place the plantains in the oil and fry until golden brown. So about 5 minutes.
- Remove the plantains from the pan and flatten the plantains. If you’re fancy, you’ll own a tostonera (see picture). A tostonera is a fancy gadget to flatten plantains to make into that tostones shape. In reality, true islanders use a can of bean on your cutting board. Ok, press the deep fried plantain down into a flat disk. The thinner the better but that all depends on how you like them.
- Here’s the important part. Like Korean fried chicken, you have to let these plantains cool off, to get ready for a 2nd fry. Even for 5 minutes. The cooling down process with make sure they don’t burn on their 2nd fry. Yes, I said 2nd. Take the cooled flattened plantain and throw them back into the deep fryer to get them crisp. I’d go another minute on them.
- The other important step is to add salt once you remove them from the fryer.
Enjoy!
Here’s the sauce. Puree 2 garlic cloves in a food processor with 1/4 cup olive oil. Add 1 chopped scallion, 2 teaspoons white vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon each cumin seeds and red pepper flakes; pulse until combined.