Patacones: Twice-Fried Green Plantain
Slices of green plantain fried, flattened and fried again. The two rounds are not excess: the first cooks the starch inside, the second builds the crust. With only one they stay soft and oily. ⚠️ It must be green, hard plantain, not ripe — ripe is sweet, falls apart when flattened, and gives a different dish.
🔎 What is plantain? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.
Ingredients
- 2 large green plantains
- Plenty of oil for frying
- Coarse salt
- 1 garlic clove (optional)
- Hogao or guacamole, to serve
Method
- 1
Cut off the ends and score the skin lengthways without reaching the flesh. Peel by pushing underneath with your thumb: the skin of a green plantain does not come away like a banana.
- 2
Cut into thick rounds, about three centimetres. Thin they dry out; too thick they stay raw in the middle.
- 3
Heat plenty of oil to 160 °C, medium heat. This first fry cooks, it does not brown.
- 4
Fry the rounds for 4 to 5 minutes, until tender and barely yellow. Pierce one: it should give with no resistance.
- 5
Lift them out and flatten them while hot, between two sheets of paper or with the base of a glass, to about a centimetre. Cold they do not flatten, they break.
- 6
Raise the oil to 180 °C and fry again, 2 minutes a side, until golden and crisp. This second fry is what makes the crust.
- 7
Drain on paper and salt at once, while hot: later the salt will not stick.
- 8
If you like, rub each patacón with a cut garlic clove as it comes out. Serve hot, with hogao or guacamole.