Fried sweet plantains

 Since moving to the south I have become more active in cooking true "southern foods". One of my favorites is fried sweet plantain bananas. Here is a simple and tasty way to cook them. The plantains need to be very ripe, meaning the peel is pretty much black all over.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

2-4 ripe plantains

1 +/- Tbsp almond oil

2-4 Tbsp salted butter (1 Tbsp per plantain)

High quality (*homemade, see story below) molasses 

1-3 +/- Tbsp dark brown sugar (light brown is fine)

1/4 - 1/2 tsp of garlic powder

Kosher salt (pinch)

1-2 +/- Tbsp finely ground plantain chips (optional)

Directions

Peel the plantains and split each lengthwise. Then cut in half into 4 quarters.

Add oil and butter to heavy skillet (cast iron) and melt butter over low heat, stirring to mix and coat the pan.

Add the quartered plantains, rounded side down, to your pan. Bring heat up to medium low/medium and start to brown. Onto each quarter sprinkle brown sugar (pinch at a time), garlic powder (small pinch), kosher salt (small pinch, do not over salt). Then with a spoon or honey drip, drizzle molasses over each quarter. 

When the first side starts to brown, turn each piece over and lower heat to medium low/low. Just enough heat to keep browning without burning. Cover with a tight lid for 10 minutes (approx.). Remove lid and check to see if they are browning evenly. Move any pieces that are not browning to hot spots in your pan. Continue to cook for 10-15 minutes until soft and fully browned (both sides). Sprinkle ground plantain chips (optional) over the top of each plantain piece. Cover, remove from heat and let sit to cool. 

Serve warm or cool as a dessert, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream if you so desire. Or serve as a side with fried chicken, pulled pork, etc. 

Enjoy.

*I was very fortunate to befriend a local farmer in Fayetteville, NC a few years ago. Frank is amazing and made his own molasses. He grew his own sugarcane, harvested it, ran the stalks through a mechanical press by hand and put the juice into large 10' - 6' stainless steel cooking tables. Then he cooked it for hours, stirring to keep it from burning. He did this the old-fashioned way, making it a day long, sometimes overnight party for a select few. I was able to trade him some of my black garlic for quart jars of his black molasses. It is a treasure that I use sparingly, 'cause you can't find this kind of homemade molasses in a store...

W