Hello dear lovely community, welcome to my blog
Today, I would love to share with you a popular plantain recipe, which I love to believe is a worldwide cuisine, I've
seen people make their plantain in different ways which are always delicious, either ripe or unripe, but today, I will be sharing with you how we make fried plantains, the Nigerian way. Who doesn't love a juicy fried plantain, it can served as an appetizer or combined with other of our staple foods like rice, beans, spaghetti, etc and it is one of my children's favorites, so it is a regular meal in my home, and very easy to make, though can get expensive sometimes, when it is not in season. People make their plantains differently, I grew up watching my mum make plantain for me this way, and it feels traditional making it for my children the same way, and more heartwarming to see the glow of excitement and satisfaction in their eyes as they eat to their fill.
Although some people are against fried foods, I believe as long as you eat your fried food in moderation, it isn't an issue to worry about, as fried plantain is also known to be rich in potassium and other minerals that help maintain blood pressure and also aid digestion.
To make your fried plain, we must get the ripe ones, though I've seen people use the unripe ones to make chips and either add sugar to it to have a sweet taste or salt it depending on their taste choice.
Ingredients used
- Ripe plantain
- salt
- groundnut oil
Procedure
- First, I start by washing my plantain because it is common to have dust on them from the market and we don't want them getting into our plantain after peeling.
- Next, I peel off the plantain cover/outer part, exposing the juicy inner
- I like to slice my plantain into different diagonal pieces, it's just how I grew up watching my mum do it, of course, you can cut your plantain pieces into your desired shape, either rounded or square pieces, it's totally as you desire,
- I also made sure to sprinkle a small quantity of salt on the sliced plantain, this is totally optional, as some might want the full sweet taste, but I love mine to have a bit of salty taste, it gives a savory kind of taste but still sweet.
- The next process is to heat my frying pan with the groundnut oil poured inside, and make sure to put your gas cooker on medium to low heat, this is to make sure the plantain doesn't quickly get burnt and also takes time to fry properly to a golden brown.
- Another tip is to use a non-stick frying pan, this also help not to allow the plantain to get stuck to the pan while frying. I put the plantain pieces into the frying pan as the oil gets hotter, and also flipped it to the other side to fry properly, especially if you aren't using too much oil. as it fries and turns golden in colour,
- I removed it gradually into a filter to help drain the excess oil as I fry the next batch.
- You definitely can't resist having a bite
And that completes the frying process. I will be combining my plantain with rice and beans I had made earlier, as I pack my children's lunch for school, feeling confident that no grain will be left, as long as fried plantain is combined with their meal.
This post is inspired by the #Januaryinleo monthly topics, you can check out Leogrowth's thread and be inspired by daily writing topics.
All images used in this post are mine