Spicy Colombian Plantains

My beau loves plantains and last year was the first time I ever made plantains.  I found that my kids do not like plantains in eggs, though, I felt this was a very delicious dish.  Yesterday we bought 6 plantains at Food City (my store for Latin foods) so we could make them into plantain chips.  Sprouts has Inca Plantains, but they are $5.49/lb, while plantains are $0.99/lb fresh at Food City.  You do the math.

We learned some things.  My original plan was to bake these, but my beau preferred to deep fry these, so that is what we did.  We learned that it is better to add the spices AFTER deep frying, and if you want it crunchier, leave it in longer to fry.  Other than that, they were yummilicious.

I´d like to try my hand at this baking them, but my beau said NO to baked plantains.  He´s the plantain expert, so I will defer to him on this.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups oil
• 6 green plantains
• 2 Tbspns smoked paprika (I got a big thing of this at Costco)
• 2 Tbspns sea salt
• 1 Tbspns ground pepper
• 1 tspn cayenne pepper

Directions:

• Heat oil to 350 F.  How I gauge this is when I stick the bottom of a wooden spoon, it bubbles quickly around it.  
• Peel and slice plantains into 1/4" chips with a sharp knife or mandolin.  My beau does 2 plantains at a time with a sharp knife.

• In a small bowl, mix together spices.
• Place plantains into batches into the hot oil, making sure not to splash the oil.  Make sure the plantain slices are not stuck together.  Fry for 3-5 min.  If you like them crisper, then fry for longer.  When the plantains float on top of the oil, they are getting close to being finished.  You may cook for another minute or so.  Take one out to see if it´s to the crispness you like.  If not, fry for longer.

Originally we fried the plantains with the spices, but this was no good.
We had to redo the spices after they were fried again.

• Drain plantain chips on paper towels.  
• Put in a bowl and toss with spices.
• Eat either hot or cool.  If you do not plan on eating these immediately, allow to cool and store in an airtight baggy or container.  There were no chips left to store as these got gobbled up quickly.