Adventures with plantains

We participate weekly with our local food co-op and sometimes we get bananas, which are Adam's favorite food. He also likes to peruse the food that we get. Take for instance this evidence:

Well, a few weeks ago, we got what looked like bananas. I want to stress that they were a spitting image of one of the most popular fruit in the world. Well, they were dark green. And they stayed green. And they were hard. What the heck? So hubby had this crazy notion that maybe they weren't bananas, but maybe plantains. I protested. They looked like bananas! They were shaped like them! I knew what plantains looked like and that was not it.

So we decided to experiment and from experience from both our missions, we knew the only way to deal with them was to fry them. And lo and behold, they were plantains! On my mission in Ecuador, we called thinly sliced fried plantains chifles (pronounced chee-flays), which are basically potato-chip like french fries that you salt and/or dip in ketchup. Another version I've done is cut a thicker slice, fry it for a bit and then smash it with something hard - in Ecuador it would have been a rock. You continue to cook it after smashing it and those are called patacones (pa-ta-co-nays for you gringos). Jed, in his mission in New Jersey, was served a very ripe plantain which is sweet when cooked. These ones would take weeks to ripen, so we're waiting on two right now. I wish I had pictures for you that I've taken, but this will have to do:

Source

So if you're looking for something new to try, buy some plantains - I've seen them at local grocery stores in the produce section. Tell me how it goes!