Introduction: Baked Sweet Plantains
These Cuban-style sweet plantains make a side-dish that works beautifully with meat or extremely spicy dishes, though you can of course treat it as a dessert. Be sure to use extremely ripe plantains- the skin should be almost completely black, not just speckled.
Note: I used only moderately ripe plantains in this example, so they're not as melting and caramelized as they should be. They were still tasty, but next time I'll be more patient, and will update with proper pictures. When done right they're absolutely delicious.
Ingredients
4 plantains, very ripe, with black skin
1/2 cup light rum (or dry white wine)
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 stick butter, cubed
ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to taste
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Peel the plantains, and split them in half. Place cut-side up in a casserole dish.
- Mix booze and sugar, and pour on top of the plantains. Grate spices over top, and dot with small butter cubes.
- Cover and bake for 15-20 minutes
- Turn plantains over, baste with juices, and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes until tops are golden-brown. (A few seconds under the broiler can help finish them nicely.)
- Serve hot, with a scoop of pan juices.
You can also fry plantains: green they make a garlicky, savory dish called Tostones while fried moderately ripe they go well with sweet flavorings.
14 Comments
14 years ago on Introduction
Ooh, yum! My husband loves these, but I never seem to fry them right. I like baking better anyway.
15 years ago on Introduction
I absofreakinglutely love plantains. I prefer them salty, like french fries, though. Nice instructable!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Yeah, Tostones are my favorite too.
Thanks!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Yep, thats the instructable.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
John, Candida -- i have an instructable that should be up shortly on how to make tostones rellenos. Just imagine the green plantain, shaped into a cup and topped with ANYTHING. It's got lots of pics and for short videos on how to cut the plaintain, peel the plantains . . . ect. :-) The pic below we topped sweet.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Those look GOOD!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
mmmmmmm, I'm lookin forward to it!
15 years ago on Introduction
Looks nice!
I think this slideshow would have worked a lot better as an actual *instructable* though. (Not to mention the fact that you'll get more readers, since a number of people are skipping videos and slideshows...)
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Thank you! I think recipes work quite well as slideshows, and since they're faster to post I'm more likely to actually be able to keep up with the pictures we take. Hopefully good content will convince people to watch more than just the full Instructable feed.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Hmm... I haven't tried posting a slideshow yet, but if they're so much faster to post, perhaps we should try making it easier/faster to post instructables as well. After all, it's just a bunch of pictures, with a little bit of text - same as the slideshow. To me, this one just screams "instructable": it shows how you are making something, not just the finished product; there's more than half a page of text with the recipe and instructions, and you have some text attached to almost all of the pictures. A rose by any other name...
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
But this is one of the things we think slideshows are particularly good for! Most people are used to seeing recipes in a one-page format, so presenting it this way works for reasonably straightforward food. If it were a bit complicated, and if there were steps that needed actual separate explanation, I'd do an Instructable.
15 years ago on Introduction
that's an awesome slideshow program you've got. I'm hoping to cook for a couple Vegans and I bet they'll love this. Thank you.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Good luck with the vegan dinner!
Check the results for the vegan tag for more potential recipes.
15 years ago on Introduction
Awesome job canida! Did you give some to Eric? :P Great job, it looks deliciously delicious to all of deliciousness.