I like trying new things in the kitchen-so this latest project from Walmart was especially fun for me! Have you ever tried Plantains?

Plantians look like bananas, but don’t be fooled~and don’t try to eat them raw. These interesting vegetables are high in vitamins A & C and have 4G of fiber per servings. Not only that, but they have multiple personalities! When they are picked green, they are starchy and used like a potato and fried. If they ripen to yellow they start to have a sweeter flavor and are best grilled, and if you let them go to black then they are more fruit-like and great in baking!

I know, it seems like a lot to remember-but the folks at Chiquita are making it easier on us. Starting in August all the Chiquita plantains at Walmart will have special stickers to let you know how to use them:

“If I’m green, fry me. If I’m yellow, grill me. If I’m black, bake me.”

I got the opportunity to go out and buy a few plantains and then try a few recipes back at the Frugal Village Homestead. (note: not all Walmarts carry plantains, so check your local store)

Now this isn’t my first time every eating plantains. Back when Princess was first born and Yankee Bill was still in the service and away for training I was invited by one of my NCO’s~SSG Martinez~ to a New Years Eve party. The Martinez family is Puerto Rican, and they had a lot of traditional dishes, including a big dish full of a mix of plantians, onions and I think chicken livers. I can’t remember what it was called, but I do remember that it was good!

For my own recipe, I didn’t feel up to trying anything with chicken livers–so I checked out the Chiquita website for plantain recipes. I decided to try the Tostones appetizer to use my green plantains.

First I peeled my plantain. This was NOT as easy as peeling a banana. They peels are much more fiberous and sort of thick and hard. I needed to use a knife to cut the ends off and then a long slit all the way down, then was able to take off the peel in chunks with my fingers and knife:

I was surprised at how solid the plantains were-again, completely unlike a banana. The texture reminded me more of a raw sweet potato. In this picture I am actually squeezing as hard as I can with my finger and thumb-and you can see it doesn’t dent the plantain at all:

Following the recipe (see bottom of post) I cut the plantian into chunks and then fried them in some oil.

I just kept rotating them around until they were uniformly browned.

Now comes the fun part-you take the sections of plantain out and place them on a piece of wax paper.

Next you put another piece of wax paper on top and using a pot you squish it down flat!

You get a sort of potato pancake result:

Buddy thought the “squishing” part was awesome.

Next you pop the discs back into the oil and brown them on each side. I overdid my a bit-I think you want them a tiny bit less brown and more golden.

Simply serve with a topping-we used salsa.

These Tostones are pretty much a blank slate. They have a very mild taste and could be mixed with just about any topping.

Since I had also grabbed a few yellow plantains, I decided I needed to try grilling them. Again-the Chiquita website had simple Ripe Grilled Plantain instructions.

Just cut off the ends, cut a slit down the center and place it on a medium to low grill.

The skins will char and pull back a bit and as the plantain cooks it will darken up in color a bit and get more gooey. I think the riper it is the more gooey and sweet you get!