Colombian Patacones

My beau is Colombian and we are just starting recently on eating Colombian foods.  He loves plantains and so do I.  What I am learning is that there are a number of dishes he loves that are either deep fried or fried, which is not a style of cooking that I do much of.  He has noticed that I do not use a lot of oil in my cooking, though, when I do, it´s usually olive oil, extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil.

This past week my weight has not been going down, rather up.  Not sure if it´s due to the effects of the large Diet Coke from Carl´s Jr I had earlier in the week that I drank completely that´s causing me to have more cravings.  I don´t think I am eating more food quantity-wise, but because we´ve had a few meals that had stuff that was fried, the extra calories are coming from that.

Needless to say, eating fried foods whether deep fried or otherwise isn´t a wise idea in weight loss.  I have asked if it would be okay to bake these, but he said NO!  Okay.

Nevertheless, these Colombian Patacones are really yummy, but do take some time to cook.  I am still wondering if I sprayed lightly with olive oil and baked at 450 F, if this would be an option.  Maybe I could test try this and I will have to let you know.

Normally I would buy my plantains at Food City, as they have the best prices, but while at the 99 cent store yesterday, we saw 3 plantains for 99 cents.  They were about the same size as the ones we got the day before at Food City, but a lot less.  I think I paid about $3.50 or something for 6 plantains the prior day, so the $1.98 was much less expensive.

Colombian Patagones with Buffalo Pork

Ingredients:

• 6 unripe plantains
• oil for frying
• sea salt

Directions:

• Heat oil to about 375 F.
• Cut off ends of plantains.  The peel is hard, so take a sharp knife and slice the skin without cutting into the plantain.  Cut several slices down the length of the plantain.  It does take some force to get the peel off.  
• Cut peeled plantains into 2 inch pieces.

Plantains look like bananas, but are not.

2" chunks

• Place plantain chunks into the hot oil for a few minutes.  Fry until there is a very slight brown color.

• Remove plantain chunks from oil and drain on paper towels.
• Take a flat surface that is at least 5"x 6" and wrap in plastic wrap (this is only to keep the surface clean).
• Place one of the chunks on a cutting board.  Use the flat surface you just wrapped plastic wrap around and press the plantain chunk into the board to flatten it.  If you like the plantain thin, flatten it more.  If not, then don´t flatten as much.

Smashing the plantain chunk before frying is much harder and doesn´t turn
out right.  The frying process softens the plantain to easily flatten.

Smashed chunk & chunk

• Do this with all the plantain chunks that have been fried.
• Place flattened plantain chunks back into the hot oil for a few more minutes, turning periodically.  They will float and be more browned.

• Remove and drain on paper towels.

• Season with salt (or whatever spices you want).