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| Tostones with chorizo, cilantro and lime juice |
I live in an area that has a heavy Hispanic influence, and as such I've had the opportunity to try many foods that I may never have had a chance to shop for much less eat.
Plantains are one of those plentiful-around-here foods, but I'd never cooked with them. After the final episodes of season four on Top Chef, I finally decided to give them a whirl. On the next-to-last episode of Top Chef, the chefs were given the task of coming up with frituras (or fried snacks) using plantains. I watched with interest and a bit of excitement, storing away the many uses they conjured up for the green banana look-alike.
One thing that two of the chefs did was to make tostones. They are, simply put, fried green plantain. I was intrigued, so I did a little reading about tostones and then went shopping to make my own version of an appetizer tostone.
What I found when I was reading were several recipes calling for dipping the plantains in salted water between fryings (they are fried twice), but I also found many Puerto Rican cooks debunking that notion. I decided to go with the cooks' idea and keep from the risk of having oil popping everywhere once the water-dipped plantain hit the hot pan. The result was fantabulous.
Tostones with Chorizo, Cilantro and Lime
Makes 24 appetizers
Printable Recipe
2 large green plantains
12 oz. chorizo
1 bunch fresh cilantro
several tablespoons fresh lime juice
salt to taste
oil for frying
Slit plantain skins and peel. Cut each plantain into 1 inch chunks - diagonally if you like - about 12 for each plantain. Heat oil over medium-high heat and fry each slice of plantain until lightly browned. Remove from oil and drain well.
Place each plantain between waxed paper or parchment and press down with a saucer until slices are 1/4 inch thick. You can also use a tostonera, a special press made just for tostones Put each slice back into the oil and fry on both sides until golden brown. Remove to paper toweling to drain well. Salt immediately.
When all tostones are fried, slice chorizo into 24 thin rounds and fry in the same oil until just lightly brown. Drain well.
Top each tostone with a cilantro leaf, a slice of chorizo and drizzle with lime juice.
In the picture, they look batter-dipped. No?
ReplyDeleteThe topping looks like a kind of stuffed meat of Turkey: sudjuk (we spell it 'sucuk' in Turkish)
ReplyDeleteIf it tastes similar with the apperience then it must be awesome! :D
Hi Annie! No, they aren't dipped in batter, but they look that way for two reasons, they are fried twice and are also very starchy. They were delicious!
ReplyDeleteHi, Bal-I've no idea! I know there are similar sausages around the world that are named differently. It may well be very close.
ReplyDeleteThe only plantain I've ever eaten was in the form of chips and found out very quickly how totally addictive they can be. Your plantain looks so easy to just pop in the mouth.
ReplyDeleteBen, they are just wonderful. They were gone in the blink of an eye!
ReplyDeleteGiz, I have yet to try plantain chips! I've seen them and just never thought to try--I'll have to!
how interesting.
ReplyDeleteI guess the idea of cooking plaintains was in my head too after watching top chef.
the wife now says that fried plantains are her favorite fruit.
btw, at the local WalMart SuperCenter I paid 54 cents a piece for them.
ReplyDeletehow much are they in your area?
I absolutely love tostones! growing up in Miami, I grew up eating them all the time. I haven't had some in the longest time, but ever since I saw them on the Top Chef finale, I told myself I'd whip up a batch soon. I think your post provided that little extra push I needed.
ReplyDeleteI've never cooked with plantains either, but those look delicious. I'll have to try them sometime.
ReplyDeleteOH those look just super! I've never heard of tostones but that's what I like about blog friends! I love Chorizo too and this sounds splendid!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! They look delicious. I have wanted to try tostones since I saw someone make them on PBS, but yours sound even better with the chorizo ~ we love chorizo. I am going to have to give these a try!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, I'm going to have to try these now that I've found chorizo that doesn't turn into a pan full of oily goo and bitty meat chunks.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Mexican chorizo that is widely available out here has a vastly different texture than most other chorizo.
Mmmm....
ReplyDeleteAnne, these look wonderful. I'll have to try it with some sort of turkey or chicken sausage, since my husband and I don't eat pork.
Can't wait.
Diane L. Harris
http://www.steppingintothelight.net