Sweet Fried Plantains with Ají Amarillo Sauce
Also called maduros, plátanos maduros, fried sweet plantains, ají amarillo sauce
Very ripe plantains fried until deeply caramelized outside and soft and custardy inside, with a creamy, tangy, golden ají amarillo sauce for dipping.
- Makes
- 4 servings as a side
Inspired by the plantains at Cholita Linda, Oakland
Ingredients
Pan sizes, times and temperatures in the method are not scaled.
Plantains
Ají amarillo sauce
Or
Method
Sauce. Blend the mayonnaise (120 ml½ cup), ají amarillo paste (2–3 tbsp), queso fresco (2 tbsp), lime juice (15 g1 tbsp), garlic clove (1) and salt until smooth, adding the milk (15–30 g1–2 tbsp) until it's thick but pourable. Taste: it should be creamy, fruity, a little hot and bright with lime. Chill while you cook; it keeps 4 to 5 days.
Cut. Trim the ends of the plantains (3), slit the skin lengthwise and peel. Cut on a sharp diagonal into slices about ½ inch (1 cm) thick.
Fry low and slow. Heat the neutral oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat to about 325 to 340°F (163 to 171°C); a slice should sizzle gently, not violently. Fry in a single layer, without crowding, 3 to 4 minutes per side, until deep amber-brown with dark caramelized edges and soft all the way through when pierced with a knife.
Serve. Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with flaky salt and serve hot with the sauce, sour cream, or both.
Notes
- Sour cream. Plain sour cream is the simplest dip, and its cool tang is good against the sweet plantains; a squeeze of lime and a pinch of salt stirred in sharpens it.
- Ripeness is everything. Dry, starchy, undercooked-tasting plantains are almost always underripe, and no amount of cooking fixes that. For sweet maduros the skin should be mostly or entirely black and the fruit should give like a ripe banana; it may look past its prime. Yellow with a few black spots is the bare minimum and will be less sweet.
- Ripening at home. Buy them green or yellow a week ahead and leave them on the counter, or in a paper bag with an apple to speed it up. Expect 5 to 10 days. Black is good; moldy or leaking is not.
- Cut thicker, not thinner. Half-inch diagonal slices, or long half-inch planks, stay creamy inside; thin slices dry out and crisp.
- Moderate heat. Too hot and the sugars burn before the center softens. If they're dark outside but still firm, lower the heat and give them another minute or two per side, or cover the pan for a minute to steam them through.
- Not-quite-ripe plantains. Fry as above, then add 2 tbsp water and a small knob of butter with a pinch of sugar, cover and cook on low 3 to 4 minutes until soft and glazed.
- Oven option. Toss the slices with a little oil and bake on parchment at 425°F (220°C) for 15 to 20 minutes, flipping once, until caramelized.
- Ají amarillo paste. Use jarred paste (Goya, Inca's Food, Zócalo), or make Homemade Ají Amarillo Paste from frozen peppers. Paste made from dried ají mirasol works but is smokier and less bright in a fresh sauce like this. With no ají at all, blend a roasted orange bell pepper and a seeded habanero or Fresno with a pinch of turmeric as an approximation.