What are Plantains?
Plantains are beautiful green banana-shaped fruit. For someone, who doesn’t know anything about plantains, mistake them for unripe bananas. This fruit is more like tomatoes. They are always cooked and eaten, no matter what stage of ripeness they are at. I like to use plantains with black smudges on them, this only means that they are about to ripen, which adds a delicious caramelized flavor to them. Plantains are a huge part of South American, South Asian, and African Cuisine.
How to Make these Fries?
Plantain Fries are nothing but plantain cut into fries and then either deep-fried, baked, or air-fried. Basically, you can cook them however you want. I like to bake them or air fry them, as it is super simple to do it, and kind of healthy-ish. Plantain fries taste absolutely delicious on their own, but I love to add a spicy twist to them.
How to Peel The Plantains?
While a lot of people make slits in the plantains and peel the skin using their hands. The nature of plantains is sticky. So I personally like to use a vegetable peeler to peel the skin of the plantains. I cut half an inch of plantain ends. Then use a vegetable peeler to peel the skin off. It’s quick and easy. To cut the plantain fries, cut the plantain into half and then cut it into fries shapes. Refer to the picture below for reference.
Spice Mix to Make these Spicy Fries
You will need
Red Chili Powder Turmeric Cumin Coriander Powder Curry Powder Achari Masala
Chaat Masala Salt
Other Spices That You Can Use
Red Chili Powder and Sea Salt Garlic Powder and Onion Powder Truffle Powder and Salt
Expert Tips To Make These Fries
The plantains are sticky in nature so don’t let them scare you. They cook perfectly and won’t stick to one another. I like to use plantains that are green in color with black specs, more than using yellow plantains.
Plantains are not bananas. They are larger than bananas, and a little hard in texture. You can also use Matokis (Small Green Bananas) for this recipe. Coat the plantain fries with a little bit of oil and then add the spices. This helps the spices to stick to the plantains well.
Cut the fries into same shape and size to ensure even cooking. To air fry or bake these fries make sure you layer them in a single layer. This will make sure they all cook evenly and get crispy evenly. Don’t layer them one on top of the other.
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