Fried Plantains

At the grocery store this week they had plantains on sale. So I decided to give fried plantains a try. After some googling I found Alton Brown's recipe. I love his show "Good Eats", he explains everything so well and always tells you the scientific reason for why you have to do things in a certain order while cooking.  It makes it easier to remember that way.

2 cups water

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil

3 green plantains

Mix the crushed garlic and water in a large glass bowl and set aside. Alton Brown's recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of salt in the water, but since Bubba was eating them I skipped it.

Peel the plantains, and cut them in 1 inch thick sections.

Fry in the oil for about 1 minute on each side

 'til they turn a golden yellow color.

Take out of oil and place on parchment paper.  (I used brown paper bag that I cut open, and  it works just fine.) 

Use a large spatula to flatten the plantains.

I put a folded paper towel between the plantain and the spatula (so the hot oil wouldn't spray through the cracks and burn me).

Gently flatten the plantains.

Soak in the garlic water for 1 minute (do not soak much longer because they start to break down).

Lay the plantains out on paper towel and pat dry.

Return  to the oil and fry till golden brown.

Lay on a paper towel to soak up excess oil.

These were so good! If Alton and I weren't both already married....

Bubba really liked them too!

Update: I have submitted this recipe to a blogger event "Taste of the Tropics" featuring Plantains this month hosted at Chef Mireille's Global Creations.

Here is the link to the round up with all of the other plantain recipes featured.