Add a Caribbean touch to your dinner with this caramelized and spiced side dish. Plantains don’t taste anything like bananas, but they’re in the same family. Plantains are a much firmer kind of banana as it contains much more starch and needs to be cooked to be eaten.
I added a sweet and spiced flair to these plantains, coconut sugar to crisp and caramelize them, oregano to give an herbal flavour, Jamaican pepper to spice it up, salt to enhance flavour and lastly but not least the Caribbean hot sauce to glaze and sauce up the crispy edge. It’s a party of flavours !
Makes about 1 medium sized bowl, serves 4 people as a side dish
Ingredients
Plantains
- 3 plantains
- Sunflower oil for pan as needed
- 3-4 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1-5 teaspoons Caribbean hot sauce of choice
- 1-2 teaspoons freshly grind Jamaican pepper / allspice
- 1-2 teaspoons oregano
- Generous amount of salt to taste
Garnish (optional)
- Fresh leaves of coriander
- Chili flakes
- Salt
What you will need
- Cutting board and knife
- 1 pan
- Spoons to measure
- 1 tong
- 1 big bowl
Instructions
- Chop the ends of each plantain. Then slice the plantains on the long side three times. Peel each section off. If you have trouble peeling the skins then cut it longways off in small sections, saving as much as the plantain as possible.
- Chop the plantains diagonally.
- Heat a pan with a generous amount of sunflower oil. When hot add in the plantains and fry them on medium heat. Sprinkle with about a tablespoon of coconut sugar on the one side, some oregano, salt and Jamaican pepper. Use as much as you prefer but be generous with the salt.
- Flip when golden or after a few minutes using the tong. Sprinkle coconut sugar, oregano, salt and Jamaican pepper again on the other side. Fry until golden. When finished put into a big bowl.
- Note: It’s okay if the plantains looks ‘charred’, they’re not, the coconut sugar is very dark and becomes caramelized on the pan, when you flip the plantains the sugar will stick to them.
- You might need to fry in two batches, so continue these steps again.
- When all the plantains are fried and in the bowl add in a hot sauce of choice. Fx use Caribbean style hot sauce with scotch bonnet and papaya or something similar. Use as much as you like. Toss the plantains in the hot sauce so they’re evenly coated.
- Put on a serving dish and garnish with fresh coriander, chili flakes and salt.
Enjoy !
