Green Plantain Chips
Makes 5 servings (6 strips each)
This is a popular snack food throughout western Africa. Inexpensive and easy to make, these are a sure way to impress your friends in the U.S. Freshly made plantain chips beat the store-bought ones any day. They are not sweet, quite unlike dried dessert banana chips.
Ingredients
2 large green plantains (each plantain makes 12 to 18 strips, depending on size)
Several cups of vegetable oil (like canola) for deep frying
Salt to taste
Directions
1. Rinse the plantains and peel by slicing off the end tips and making a slit lengthwise through the peel without cutting into the plantain itself. Use the tip of a knife to pry the peel loose to get started, then remove the peel by hand. Scrape off any fibrous strings on the plantain.
2. There are different ways to slice the plantain (see variations). I prefer making long very thin slices using a y-shaped vegetable peeler or a standard peeler. Lay them out flat on a large tray or baking sheet without touching one another as they are cut.
3. Fill a heavy pan or deep fryer no more than halfway with oil and heat the oil to 365 degrees F. (On my stovetop, the medium-high setting gives approximately the correct temperature, but it must be monitored and turned up and down to keep it there.)
4. Get about 18 slices ready and add to the preheated oil a few at a time. Do not add them all at once or they will clump. Nudge them as they are added to prevent them from sticking to each other. Stir with a long-handled spoon to ensure even cooking. Remove the chips with a slotted spoon in a few minutes when they are golden and crisp and drain them on a paper towel-lined colander or platter. (If the chips bend they are not fully cooked: they should be crispy, like potato chips.)
5. Salt to taste while they are still warm. After cooling, store in an airtight container.
Variations:
Sprinkle the chips with salt mixed with dried ground red pepper to taste.
Instead of strips, cut the plantain into thin rounds or ovals.
Troubleshooting: If a strip of plantain dropped into the oil sits on the bottom, the oil is too cold. If as soon as it is dropped in it comes to the top and almost immediately begins to brown, the oil is too hot.
Thinly sliced and fried plantain chips or strips are readily available in Ghana both salted and spiced. Other “chips” are increasingly being sold commercially in Ghana made from root vegetables such as sweet potatoes (atomo), cassava (duade), or cocoyams.
Savory Plantain Pancakes
Tatale
Makes 10 to 12 (using ½ cup batter) or 15 to 18 (using ⅓ cup batter)
I grew to love plantains in Ghana, and am especially partial to them when they are ripe (yellow) or over-ripe (black and yellow and squishy). One of my favorite ways to prepare them is as a simple savory pancake (no syrup, please). It is customarily eaten with boiled bambara groundnuts, which also grow in the northern regions of Ghana.
The first challenge is to procure ripe-to-overripe plantains. In some parts of North America one must buy green (unripe) plantains and let them ripen at home. As a rule, buy twice as many plantains as required, two or three weeks before they are needed.
Ingredients
3 or 4 large over-ripe plantains (about 1½ pounds after peeling; about 3 cups when sliced)
½ cup finely grated onion or shallots
3 teaspoons grated or ground fresh ginger
1 to 2 teaspoons dried ground red pepper (more or less to taste)
Scant ⅛ teaspoon calabash nutmeg or regular nutmeg (optional)
¼ to ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste; optional)
⅓ to ½ cup (2 ounces) rice flour or cornmeal
⅓ to ½ cup (2 ounces) all-purpose flour
About 1 cup palm oil for pan frying
Directions
Make batter:
1. Cut the ends off the plantains and slit horizontally along one side, then peel and slice them. Put the plantain slices into a large mixing bowl and mash them. Traditionally these would then be pounded in a mortar with a wooden pestle, but if you must use a blender or food processor, keep some of the mashed plantain out and add after blending the rest so there are still some pieces remaining.
2. Stir in the onions or shallots, ginger, dried ground red pepper, nutmeg, if using, and salt.
3. Add the rice flour (or cornmeal if you prefer) and all-purpose flour and stir. Add 1 cup of water and stir again. Let the mixture sit for 20 to 30 minutes before cooking the pancakes.
Cook pancakes:
4. Heat a heavy skillet or griddle as for regular pancakes (medium-high heat). Use a pastry brush to brush palm oil generously on the pan, then drop the batter onto the griddle using 1/3 to ½ cup batter for each pancake. Use a spoon to spread the batter into a circle shape.
5. When the pancake is firm enough to turn without breaking, turn it over with a pancake turner, pressing the turner down firmly on the pancake to flatten it. Continue doing this every few minutes while the pancakes cook. Barbara and I like our tatale quite brown and “crusty”, but they may be fried to suit individual preference.
6. Set the pancakes on paper towels to drain off excess oil. Avoid stacking them as you cook—spread them out to drain. Continue cooking pancakes until all batter is used, brushing fresh palm oil on the pan for each batch.
Make ahead: The cooked tatale can be kept warm in a low oven, but will become tough if heated too long. A better alternative is to heat them a few seconds in the microwave before serving them.
The batter may be made up to a day ahead and refrigerated, covered, until cooking time.
To serve: Tatale is classically eaten with Stewed Bambara Beans (Aboboe, page 142) or Bean Stew (Red-Red, page 124). When bambara beans/groundnuts are unavailable, an acceptable substitute is garbanzo beans (chickpeas). Peanuts have supplanted bambara beans/groundnuts in much of West Africa. Fresh boiled peanuts could also be used as could roasted unsalted peanuts.
In Ghana, tatale with aboboe makes a wonderful, elegantly simple party snack, especially pleasant when washed down with cold glasses of beer. It is hearty enough for non-vegetarians to adore. Interestingly, tatale with aboboe is the only Ghanaian dish I know of, apart from porridge, where sugar is served on the side and may be added to the beans to taste. Still, some purists insist that even that is a foreign intrusion.
Spicy Fried Plantain Cubes
Kelewele
Makes 4 to 6 servings
Kelewele is one of my all-time favorite snack foods from Ghana. It is generally described as something like “spicy fried plantain cubes,” but that description is like calling a sunset “beautiful.” Western cookbook versions I’ve seen are anemic versions of the best kelewele as prepared in Ghana, where it is often served accompanied by dry roasted unsalted peanuts. The sweet, spicy, and chewy plantain is a perfect counter to the mild crunchy/creamy flavor and texture of the peanuts. Years ago my husband and I used to go for walks in the evenings in Ghana to the roadside vendors whose lamps and candles flickered in the night and where the women neatly wrapped our hot, freshly cooked kelewele in clean newspaper.