I grew up with bananas, but not their Latino cousins, the plantain and the green banana. In the quest to expand my range of foodstuffs, I picked up a few the other week. I've seen recipes for fried plantains for years, and last week the time was ripe for kitchen experimentation. I remembered they work either sweet or savory, and a quick online consult proved me right. After cutting a green banana lengthwise and salting them, I fried them in some olive oil and ate them while they were still hot. Wow, really good. Because they are under ripe, green bananas don't peel like a yellow one, so you have to cut off the tough-clinging green peel, which isn't a problem, because there's still plenty of fruit left to cook with.
Next up was something sweet and totally easy: banana chips fried in oil, drained on a towel, then coated with cinnamon and sugar. From these two basic preps, you could go off in tons of directions. The sweet chips can be made for a number of desserts, and the fries can accompany many main courses as a side. A friend of mine wrote me that she serves them as salty fries with ketchup to her kids, and they absolutely love them. What a score on the healthy foods list for the notoriously pick palate that most kids have. Enjoy!
