[Sca-cooks] recipes for plantains?

[Sharon Palmer]

>Back on September 1, Emilio said:
><<< I have eaten bananas but I guess I have never ever seen a 
>plantain fruit in my life ...>>>
>
>At that time, I would have said the same.
>
>However, I recently noticed in my local HEB grocery what looked like 
>miniature bunches of slightly green bananas about 5 or 6 inches 
>long. However the sticker on them said "plantain".
>
>I know that, unlike bananas, they need to be cooked. But I no idea 
>how they should be cooked. Has anyone eaten these or have recipes 
>for them?

Plaintain is firmer and less sweet than banana, has a thicker skin, 
and is harder to peel.  The plaintains I have seen in the store look 
like oversized bananas, maybe 12 inches long, 2 inches thick. 
Bananas come in many types, plaintain might too, but I'd open one and 
taste it, in case, just maybe its a mislabeled banana.

They start green, turn yellow then black.  You can eat them either 
way, but the yellow and black ones are sweeter and are treated 
differently.  The green ones you can peel, cut into thickish slices 
and panfry, cook until soft, press down to flatten, then fry farther 
until crisp.  I've also peeled them, cut them into chunks and put 
them into a stew.  I've seen recipes for baking, boiling, or even 
microwaving still in the peel, but not tried that.

Here are some recipes
http://www.recipe.com/recipes/fruit/plantain/popular/
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/plantain.htm
http://www.dollarman.com/puertorico/plantainrecipes.html

Ranvaig