Transcript Plantains - Puerto Rican Food

Plantains
One of the most important crops of
the island
The Demand…
• Even though the plantain is one of the
most important and most produced crop
the demand is so high that they still have
to import them from the Dominican
Republic and Costa Rica.
Bananas vs. Plantains
• Bananas are most often eaten raw, while
plantains usually require cooking
• Unlike bananas plantains are used either
when they are overripe.
vs.
Plantain Flowers
• Each stem of a plantain plant will flower only
once, and all the flowers grow at the end of its
shoot in a large bunch consisting of multiple
hands with individual fruits. Only the first few
hands will become fruits.
• In other countries the flowers that did
not produce a fruit are used in salads.
Plantain Leaves
• They are similar to banana leaves but
are larger and stronger, thus reducing
waste in cooking
• They can be roasted over an open fire
and eaten in some countries
• A traditional meals are served on a
plantain leaf.
Plantain Shots
• The plantain will only fruit once. After harvesting
the fruit, the plantain plant can be cut and the
layers peeled (like an onion) to get a cylinder
shaped soft shoot. This can be chopped and first
steamed, then fried with masala powder, to
make an excellent dish. This dish is called
Posola.
Steamed, boiled, grilled, baked, or
fried
• In some counties the plantain is either fried or
boiled and then added to a soup
• The boiled plantain can be mixed with groundnut
paste, pepper, onion and palm oil to make "eto"
which is eaten with avocado pear
• In the US the plantain is mostly grilled.
As a Fruit
• Steam-cooked plantains are considered a
nutritious food for infants and the elderly.
• Plantains can be used for cooking at any stage
of ripeness, and very ripe plantain are the only
ones that can be eaten raw.
• As the plantain ripens, it becomes sweeter and
its color changes from green to yellow to black,
just like the banana
Dried flour
• Plantains are also dried and ground into
flour; banana meal forms an important
foodstuff,
As a Drink
• They can be brewed or mixed into an
alcoholic beverage
There are many dishes that
contain this fruit
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Yo-Yo
Alcapurria
Relleno de Maduros
Boli
Plantain Chips
Yo-Yo
• A traditional dish made of two short slices of
fried ripened plantain placed on top of each
other with local soft white cheese in the middle
(in a sandwich-like fashion) and held together
with toothpicks. The arrangement is dipped in
beaten eggs and fried again until the cheese
melts and the yo-yo acquires a deep golden
color. They are served as sides or entrees.
Alcapurria
• A type of savory Puerto Rican fritter.
• The plantains and tubers are mashed into
a masa (dough) that is used to encase a
filling of ground meat , which are then
deep fried.
Relleno de Maduros
• A traditional Puerto Rican dish that's also
seen in Dominican cuisine, similar to
lasagna but uses sweet plantains to
replace the pasta. The dish in English is
known as Puerto Rican lasagna
Boli
• The plantain is usually barbecued/grilled
and served with roasted fish, ground
peanuts and a hot palm oil sauce
Plantain Chips
• Is just like a banana chip but it is made
from dehydrated plantains.