Plantain Chips
Senior Editor
London, United Kingdom ·
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London, United Kingdom ·
Green plantain sliced paper-thin and fried until crisp. It is a snack made across West Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, and no single country is claimed for it. **One correction to the source, and it matters.** It says plantain chips are "also known as alloco, dodo, or chicharritas". Chicharritas is right, that is the Cuban and Puerto Rican name for exactly this. But alloco and dodo are not chips. Both are the West African dish of *ripe* plantain cut into thick pieces and fried soft: sweet, tender and yielding, the opposite of a crisp. Alloco is the Ivorian name and dodo the Nigerian one, and both have their own pages on this site. Conflating them with chips confuses two quite different foods. The distinction comes down to ripeness. Green plantain is starchy and barely sweet, and sliced thin it dries and crisps. Ripe plantain is full of sugar and moisture; sliced thin it burns before it crisps, and cut thick it fries soft. The source's own instructions are good, do not salt before frying, do not use overripe fruit, season while hot, but they are written as a list of tips rather than as a method. A method has been constructed.
Plantain chips are made from thinly sliced green plantain, fried or baked until crisp, and eaten as a snack across West Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. They are distinct from alloco and dodo, which are West African dishes of thick-cut ripe plantain fried soft.
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself.
Peel the plantains. Green plantain skin does not come away like a banana's, score it lengthways with a knife and lift it off in sections.
Slice the plantains as thinly and evenly as you can. A mandoline is the honest answer here unless you are very good with a knife; uneven slices cook unevenly and some will burn while others are still soft.
Do not salt or season the slices before frying. Salt draws water to the surface and stops them crisping.
Heat the oil to around 350°F / 175°C. Test with a single slice, it should sizzle immediately without browning instantly.
Lower the slices into the oil one at a time, or in a single layer, so they do not stick together.
Turn them continuously as they fry. Watch the colour and listen for the sizzle to drop off, which tells you the moisture has gone.
Lift them out when golden and drain on kitchen paper.
Season with salt while they are still hot, so it sticks.
Cool completely before serving, they crisp further as they cool.
Personal notes from Nympha NzeribeBe the first to rate this recipe
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