Plantains / Tostones

1 plantain
Oil
Garlic Salt
A tostonera - see below for example (if you don't have one you can use an object like a brick wrapped in foil or some other hard object that will be easy to push down on)


My favorite! I've had these many times and have cooked them with my mom many times. Tonight, I tried them by myself. I have two tostonera's aka the wooden squashers for the bananas. One has a circular bowl shape on the bottom - the other just flat. The bowl shaped one allows you to fry the bananas in a cup form so that you can fill them with different types of dips (crab & mango salsas, etc.).. Tonight I used the regular flat one.

1. Cut a thin line (just the thickness of the peel) down the banana. Peel off - it comes off pretty easily. See pics below. Then cut on an angle about 1 inch pieces.

2. Heat oil on medium/high - once it is hot - place banana slices in oil. COOK ON MED-LOW for about 3 minutes on each side.

3. Once golden, place on paper towel to cool for 2 MINUTES (i leave the oil on low in the mean time, and right when I start using the tostonera, I will raise oil to Medium heat in preparation to re-fry the flatten bananas).

4. Flatten in the tostonera (using a fork, rub a little of the oil on each surface of the tostonera to avoid sticking). Place flatten bananas back into oil and cook on medium for about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Place on paper towel over plate and season with garlic salt & a little regular salt while they're still hot.

Here is how they came out:

Place some oil on tostonera to avoid sticking

A wonderful side dish for Taco night!