Platanos Maduros (Costa Rican Fried Ripe Plantains)

godsjoyfulkid's Note:

I learned to make these from my friend Adrián Marchena while I spent a semester of college in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. I have not personally made these, but I stood next to him in his kitchen as he gave me step-by-step instructions. These are sweet, and almost dessert-like. You can find plantains in most local supermarkets in the produce section, and they look like bananas, but are more of a vegetable. They are quite frequently eaten by Costa Ricans, or "ticos" with meals that include gallo pinto (rice and black beans) and some meat product. I LOVE these!

• Total Time: 15 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 ripe dark-skinned plantains
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Heat vegetable oil in skillet over medium heat.
2. Fully peel plantains, and cut them diagonally into approximately 1-inch wide pieces, working your way down the length of the plantain. (NOT length-wise slices).
3. Carefully place pieces of plantain in skillet.
4. Flipping often, fry plantains until golden brown. The Plantains will be rather mushy - they're supposed to be.
5. *They will be sweet - the riper the plantains, the sweeter they will be. (They will NOT taste like patacones, if you've tried those) If you prefer them sweeter, you can sprinkle with sugar before cooking.

Reviews

[Bugeah]

This was really good. I sprinkled them with sugar and cinnamon before frying and they turned out soft and sweet. I'm giving it a 4 only because my husband thought they were "OK". I will be making this again as a treat for my daughters and I.

[Baby Kato]

I loved this recipe. It was awesome. The plantains tasted wonderful. I love the carmalized flavor that you get by frying them. I used two very black plantains, they worked well. Soft, sweet and salty. Thanks for sharing a recipe that I will make again. :)

[Elmotoo]

Fast & omg soooo simple! I'm not sure how long I actually fried them. 3 plantains fit in my 12" skillet. I just let 'em cook until they were caramelized then I sprinled liberally with kosher salt. DIVINE! I wish we had more. 4 people got 5 pieces. Not nearly enough, lol. My plantains were BLACK, soft & wonderfully sweet. ENJOY! Thank you, chef! BTW, yours was picked out of the several similar because it was the oldest unrated one of the bunch. ;)