Tostones

Serves 2
Preparation Time (1 min) 
Cooking Time - 15 mins

Ingredients

Raw green plantain - 1
Coriander leaves - few sprigs (finely chopped)
Salt - to taste 
Chat Masala and / or Amchur powder - 1 tsp each (optional - use if you want to Indianize it)
Oil - for deep fry

Method 

Heat up some oil in a frying pan (the wider the better) on a medium flame, so that by the time the preparation is over, the oil is hot enough to start cooking. This way you wont waste much time. (Remember not to start on a high flame)

Wash the plantain thoroughly and peel it (not with a peeler - peel it like you would peel a banana - tips below*).
Cut the plantain into 3/4 inch thick slices. Keep aside until oil is hot.

Once the oil is hot, add the slices one by one into the oil - they should come up in the oil immediately. Turn them over in less than 30 secs. They should not fry much, just until they change color. Remove them onto a paper towel. Reduce the oil to a low flame.

No No its not yet done... Just a few mins more :)

The slices of plantain have a lot of oil absorbed now. Take a glass or a kitchen utensil with a round flat bottom surface. This will be used to flatten out the plantain slices to remove extra oil from them. Take each slice of plantain and using the glass / utensil, flatten out the slice with some pressure (not too much) so that the slice is now just more than 1/4 of an inch thick. Pat the slice dry using a paper towel to remove all the excess oil and keep aside. Do the same with all the other slices.

Meanwhile increase the oil flame again to medium and once it is hot, add the flattened slices of plantain into the pan. Fry them until they are golden brown in color on either sides. This time, the slices don't absorb too much oil. Drain them on a paper towel if you are very health conscious.

Arrange the slices on a serving plate and sprinkle some salt and coriander leaves over them for garnish. Tostones are ready to serve :) ENJOY YOUR MEAL !!

P. S:
I think the picture is from when I made tostones out of two plantains. So don't compare the quantity :)

Prepared Tostones - ready to be served :)

 

Close-up View !!

Tips

Its a little difficult to peel the raw plantains, hence some tips.

Cut the plantain into two. Slit the peel lengthwise in 4 directions (dont cut the plantain lengthwise - take care to only slit the peel). The peel then comes out easily when you try to peel it like a normal banana :) Don't try to peel a plantain without slitting. You might hurt your fingers / nails. The peel is generally too hard.

You can even peel it using a peeler, but you would have to peel out several layers until you reach the actual fruit, which I think is time consuming as well as results in the wastage of some part of the fruit too. I would recommend the previous method.