tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019364330275165959.post-83133908845710668192007-09-29T08:10:00.000-04:002008-01-06T12:03:31.178-04:00<div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="280" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Plantains9.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />When many people think about Caribbean food, plantains quickly come to mind. While you can't blame them because we <em>do</em> eat a lot of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantain">plantains</a> in these parts, we're much more than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantain">plantains</a>, but that's for another column and another post :) Often when plantains are thought of in the Caribbean-food context, it is usually as fried ripe plantains. However, there are so many other ways that we prepare and eat plantains.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="280" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Ripe10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />In <a href="http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_affairs?id=56529992">my column this week</a>, I share some of the plantain dishes I enjoy the most and also a new spice-paste combo for sauteed green plantains that I learnt from <a href="http://www.sailusfood.com/2007/09/21/ava-pettina-aratikaaya-kura-raw-plantain-in-mustard-paste">here</a>. Thanks Sailu. <a href="http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_affairs?id=56529992">Click here to read the column</a>.<br /><br />If you'd like to learn more about the plantain and the plantain versus the banana, then <a href="http://jugalbandi.info/2007/09/no-saar-plahnden-is-differend-from-benana">Jugalbandi</a> is the place to go. This week they had an insightful and informative <a href="http://jugalbandi.info/2007/09/no-saar-plahnden-is-differend-from-benana">post</a> about the plantain.<br /><br /><a href="http://foodieshope.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-plantain-time-or-is-it-bananarama.html">Asha</a> of Foodie's hope also has profiled some interesting plantain recipes this past week.<br /><br />Without further ado, I present some plantain treats for you. If you'd like the recipe to any of these dishes, please do not hesitate to <a href="mailto:tasteslikehome@gmail.com">email me</a>.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="280" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Splilledchips.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">Plantain chips</span></strong></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="275" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Fufu6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><strong>Plantain Foo-Foo</strong></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;color:#000000;">(Foo-foo/fu-fu is an African dish: made by boiling and pounding startchy root vegetables and making them into balls to be eaten with stews or in soups. Plantains are also made into foo-foo though strictly speaking it is not a root vegetable though we think of it as a ground provision)</span></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="275" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Foofoo6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">Foo-foo with stewed beef</span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="275" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Boiled10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><strong>Boiled ripe plantains with herb butter</strong></span></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="280" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Ripe9.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><strong>Fried ripe plantains (very ripe)</strong></span></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="280" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Plantains8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">Boiled green plantains sauteed with a mustard-coconut-ginger-chili paste</span></strong></div><p align="center">***************************************************<br /></p><p align="left">And now for more fun stuff. Over two weeks ago, a lovely lady by the name of <a href="http://tastypalettes.blogspot.com/">Suganya of Tasty Palettes</a> fame, emailed asking me if I'd like to receive one the Amish Friendship-Bread starter that's been making its rounds all over the USA (that I know of so far). I enthusiastically responded, "yes!" So, here are some of the things I made with my starter after feeding it and sharing it with my friends.<br /><br />First up - a Currant bread (which is more like a type of sweet bread)<br /><br /></p><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="300" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Raisin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Second - A Tipsy bread (tipsy because the grounded fruits that I used to make this bread have been macerating and marinating in rum for a year!)<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="300" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Rumfruit2.jpg" wdith="400" /></a></div><br />Finally, I made the no-knead bread with the starter.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="280" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Buttered.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I found the dough to be a lot more sticky and difficult to handle because of the additional liquid. Nevertheless, the bread came out great as you can see. I got the same crust, but the texture was different, not as airy and holey as the original no-knead bread and what was particularly interesting is that the bread had a slight sourdough-taste to it. That, definitely comes from the starter.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img height="300" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" src="http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/cynthiaanelson/Bread4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565340772467109199noreply@blogger.com