Why It Works
- Slicing the plantains uniformly with a mandoline ensures even cooking.
- A quick leisure on a wire rack is all they need, no dropping paper towels.
Plantain chips are a most popular snack amongst Central American, Caribbean, and South American cultures. Counting on the nation they hail from, they is probably known as platanitos, mariquitas, chifles, platanutres, or one factor else completely. This express recipe relies on the freshly fried plantain chips typically found on highway corners and retailers in El Salvador—thinly sliced with a sharp knife or mandoline and completely fried just one time until crisp and crunchy. The result is one factor like a powerful potato chip, and fully completely different from the Dominican Republic’s tostones and Panama’s patacones, which are made by frying thicker rounds of plantain, then flattening them and frying them a second time.
The tactic is simple: start with inexperienced plantains, peel them, and scale back them into skinny slices. There is no one correct reply on how skinny to slice them. On this recipe, we title for chopping the plantains one-eighth-inch thick, for uniform chips that keep their kind; going thinner to one-sixteenth of an inch thick works too, producing wavier chips that are further delicate, though they may appear further greasy in spots (bear in mind that thinner chips prepare dinner dinner further quickly). As quickly as they’re fried, we merely take away them from the oil and them let drain on a wire rack, no paper towels compulsory—our testing confirmed that further oil wasn’t a difficulty on the finished chips.
In Central American worldwide areas, the chips are generally seasoned calmly with salt or chile powder and lime juice, nevertheless there’s nothing stopping you from experimenting with further seasonings.
January 2021
Fried Plantain Chips Recipe
Put together dinner Mode
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2 inexperienced plantains
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Vegetable oilfor frying (about 2 cups/475ml)
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Kosher salt
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Decrease off the ends of each plantain.
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Peel plantains.
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Decrease plantains in half crosswise.
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Using a mandoline slicer, slice plantains lengthwise into planks 1/8 inch thick.
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Line a rimmed baking sheet with a wire rack. Fill a giant, deep cast iron or stainless-steel skillet halfway with oil. Set over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 350°F (175°C). Working in batches and avoiding crowding the pan, add plantain slices and fry, turning generally, until golden brown all through, about 4 minutes full. Using a spider or slotted spoon, change plantains to wire rack to empty. Season immediately with salt. Repeat with remaining plantain slices.
Specific Instruments
Mandoline slicer, spider or slotted spoon, instant-read thermometer, wire rack, rimmed baking sheet
Make-Ahead and Storage
The fried chips could also be held in an airtight container at room temperature for at least 1 day and as a lot as 4, counting on ambient humidity.