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Known as "potatoes of the air" or simply as "cooking bananas," plantains are starchy when ripe and are often used in tropical regions in place of potatoes and squashes. We learned this by reading Britannica.com's entry on the plantain. Then we visited the Epicurious Recipe File, where we searched on "plantain" and turned up twelve different recipes gathered from back issues of Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines. A basic, mouthwatering recipe for fried plantains got us started; we learned that firm-ripe plantains with mottled
brown and yellow skins are the best for deep-frying, whereas fully ripe ones are nearly black. Sliced on the diagonal and fried till golden brown, platanos make a delicious side-dish served with savory roasts or a sumptuous desert served with ice cream and a flaming liqueur or rum sauce. Nothing low-fat about them. Although most of the recipes began by frying or sauteing these mild-flavored "cooking bananas," we found one recipe for sopa de platano, a simple chicken broth-based puree made with plantains. We figured there had to be other recipes for unfried plantains so we searched more generally, typing "plantain" into a couple of our favorite search engines. This turned up an assortment of yummy recipes from
a host of different web sites: plantain pancakes from Honduras; a fat-free vegetarian version of cozido, a traditional Portuguese stew; plantain gingerbread; and a beef plantain omelet from Puerto Rico. Here's a tip for peeling these thick-skinned fruits: Bang them on the countertop a couple of times, then score the peel lengthwise with a paring knife.
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