Tostones Y Pico de Gallo

Every week I buy green plantains. I cook the plantains in a variety of ways to have as a snack or a meal. I. Love. Green plantains. More than I do ripe plantains. One of my favourite ways to cook green plantains is shallow frying; it cooks up quickly and easily and does not absorb a lot of oil. There are several ways to prepare green plantains to be fried - as crisp chips, fritters, potato-style fries or as tostones. 

Tostones are twice fried green plantains. Once peeled, the plantains are cut into 1 - 1 1/2-inch thick rounds, fried for about 2 minutes, smashed to flatten and then fried again to crisp up. The outsides are crisp and the insides soft. I use the device below that I bought a few years ago in a West Indian store in the United States, before that I used my cast iron skillet. Tostones are good on their own and great with accompaniments such as salsas, hot sauces, ketchup, garlic sauce and other condiments.

You do not need speciality equipment to flatten the fried plantains, use a cast iron skillet or any heavy implement that can flatten stuff. I suggest putting the fried plantain between plastic wrap, wax or parchment paper if using a skillet etc. so that the plantains are easy to remove once mashed.

Pico de gallo is a fresh salsa/salad, to make it you need crisp onions, fresh firm ripe tomatoes, spicy garlic, hot peppers, tender cilantro/coriander, salt, and fresh lime or juice. The quantity of the ingredients to make the salsa is based on your personal preference. For the onions, I like to use white onions, but I also use Spanish onions or red onions, depending on what I have available.

Here are a few tips to make the pico de gallo.

• Cut up the onions first, then grate or grind the garlic to a paste, do not merely chop it where you are likely to bite into tiny bits of garlic.
• Add the onions and garlic paste to a bowl, along with lime/lemon juice and add salt to taste. Mix together the ingredients and let it sit for about 10 - 15 minutes; this will breakdown the rawness of the garlic and onions and begin the pickling process.
• Finely mince the hot peppers and chop the tomatoes into small pieces; if you like, you can remove the seeds from a couple of the tomatoes. But do not de-seed all the tomatoes, the pulp of the tomatoes add important flavour to the salsa.
• Roughly or finely chop the cilantro and include some of the tender stems, mincing them (the stems) finely.
• Add the peppers, tomatoes and cilantro to the onion-garlic mixture and toss to mix. Taste and adjust with more lime/lemon juice and salt until it suits your taste. To determine the taste, taste the juice itself after mixing the ingredients together.
• Cover the salsa/salad and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving so that the flavors can meld.
• Bring the salsa to room temperature before serving.

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This Salsa is NOT made in San Antonio or in New York City!

This salsa is made in my humble kitchen right here in the Caribbean and it can be made in your kitchen too, regardless of your location. All you need is fresh ripe tomatoes.

Here in Barbados, we have been an enjoying a long season of tomatoes selling for as little as $1-one dollar (BDS) per pound (1 BDS dollar = US 50 cents). I have been making all kinds of sauces, chutneys, choka(s) and pickles with tomatoes. Totally loving this season.

I use my salsa with many things - bakes, roti, ladled over ground provisions, with chicken, seafood, eggs, biscuits (crackers). In other words, with everything but the traditional tortilla chips.

Making this salsa is easy and keeps for 2 weeks in the refrigerator and freezes easily. A few notes before the recipe.

• I add a half-ripe tomato to the mix of tomatoes, this gives the little tartness that one would expect from the addition of fresh lime juice.
• Steam-cook the tomatoes until a knife inserts easily with a little resistance in the center.
• Sprinkle the finely diced onions with a little salt as it sits waiting for the tomatoes to cook.
• Steam the hot peppers with the tomatoes rather than adding it raw to the sauce; the flavour and heat are better incorporated into the sauce since they will be pureed together.
• Pulse intermittently when making the sauce in order to control the texture you want.
• Puree the steamed pepper first, before adding the tomatoes, this way, the pepper can be completely pureed and not be in large pieces. De-seed the peppers if you only want the flavour and not the heat.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs ripe tomatoes, steamed and skins removed
• 1 large scotch bonnet pepper (I used 2 because I wanted it very hot)
• 1/2 cup finely minced red onions
• 2 - 3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro/coriander
• Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Add the pepper to the bowl of a food processor and puree. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the tomatoes and pulse to your desired consistency for the sauce.
2. Add the onions, cilantro along with salt to taste and pulse only 1 - 2 times to mix in the ingredients. Over-pulsing will affect the texture of the sauce. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
3. Pour the sauce into a bowl and stir a few times to mix well.
4. Serve immediately or set aside covered for 1 hour to serve at room temperature. If not serving right away, store in sterilised glass jars and refrigerate. Access the sauce always with clean utensils.

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