Tag Archives: cuban

Fried plantains

29 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by in Sides, Vegetables

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Fried plantains

I went round to my friend’s house for a yummy Saturday lunch. Now Sarah has already featured on this blog because of her fantastic cooking which is Cuban inspired, http://wp.me/p1sdbX-4k. So we made homemade burgers and exchanged chips for some fried plantains.

Plantains are fried all around the world, wherever they are grown but they are also getting more and more popular in the UK as they are just delicious and easy to find!

What you will need:
1 plantain for 2 people
Vegetable oil
Non stick cooking paper (we used a piece of white paper)
Salt

You can fry in a pan or in a frying machine.

Peal the plantains and slice them, about 4cms high. Add oil into a frying pan, you want there to be enough oil to cover at least half the height of a plantain slice. Boil the oil and add the plantain and wait until it starts to golden, then turn and do the same on that side.

Sliced plantains

Remove the slices onto a plate and then one by one place them in the cooking paper, fold and press down to squash.

Squash plantain

Return the pieces to the oil until they have a crispy looking exterior.

Fry plantain

Remove from the oil and place on some kitchen paper and spinkle with salt. Serve straight away whilst nice and hot.

Enjoy!
Mel

French Cuban Chicken

10 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by in Chicken

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My colleague Sarah is married to a Cuban man and has become a pro at Cuban cooking. I am always eyeing up her food and sometimes even get a donation towards my lunch club with Claire.

This chicken dish is my take on Sarah’s fried chicken except I cook it in the oven.

What you will need:

4 – 5 chicken thighs
2 tablespoons of cumin powder
1 tablespoon of paprika Chilli flakes (to taste)
1 lime’s juice
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Cooking time:
45 minutes

In a sandwich bag (or bowl) add your chicken, thinly sliced onions and the ingredients (except the oil). This is a bit messy but get your hand in the bag and make sure all the ingredients are mixed together. Close up your sandwich bag (better to place the bag in a bowl) and leave it in the fridge for 20mins – though the longer the better. Preheat your oven to 200C.

Empty all the contents of the bag in an oven dish and pour a little oil over the chicken making sure the onions are covered in oil (you really don’t need to use much). Put the chicken in the oven and after 15mins check that the onions aren’t burning. If they are starting to, stir them a little and leave to cook for a further 15mins.

I had a big salad with the chicken, but there was some left so I brought it to work for my lunch club. Claire had some left-over pasta and they went perfectly together.

For Sarah’s chicken, she lets it marinate for 24 hours (I think) and fries the thighs in oil. Either way is yummy.

Mel