Magical Food Item #8728937: Fried Plantains

So I’ve had plantains a few times in my life, and have enjoyed them each time I’ve had them, but didn’t really think about them all that much beyond that point. And then, recently, I acquired a plantain. Sometimes items will surreptitiously leap into my basket at the grocery store, and there’s little I can do about this aside from figuring out a way to punish such infidels with a frying pan. In any case, the plantain sat around on top of my fridge, in the very good company of bananas, until it had achieved a nearly uniform state of blackness. Being one that prefers her bananas still green at the ends, having to wait for a banana-like object to achieve an almost blackened state was odd indeed. But I stuck it out, somehow.

There’s a reason why fried plantains are so delicious. It’s called oil. Lots of oil. Copious amounts of oil, sputtering all over. Delicious fatty oil. Did I mention oil? I sliced the plantain, and it’s pieces fried themselves in the oil for awhile, and then I flipped them to ensure that each side was sufficiently saturated.

In the end, one side was a little too black and the other side wasn’t quite black enough. It was my first time, though, and the plantains were rather delicious, so I wasn’t too concerned. These are really easy to make, and I’ve made some since, but given the sheer amount of oil it takes to make these things so awesome, I’m afraid I don’t see them being a regular thing, not until I take up some sort of really heavy exercise on a regular basis at least. Nonetheless, I totally encourage other people to try making them, as they are easy and slide down one’s throat quite nicely.