Plantain

Ingredients

1 Plantain
salt
1 Tbspn Oil

Choosing a plantain can be difficult for people not used to them. As they get riper they begin to get black patches and marks on them. Choose a ripe Plantain, if its not ripe you will get plantain tasting like french fries, if its too ripe it will be very sweet and fall. But just right and it has a soft consistency and tastes wonderful. If there is green on the end of the plantain its not ripe.

Peel and slice in half lengthwise. The cut each half into three equal pieces and place on a plate and sprinkle with salt.

Leave for a moment while heating the pan with oil until fairly hot. Again the temperature is a bit tricky, a bit like pancakes really, too hot and it burns without cooking, too cool and it cooks too slow and absorbs too much oil. Cook until brown on both sides.

Place two paper towels on a plate and lay the plantain on this. Cover with another towel and place a heavy saucepan on top. This will absorb as much as possible of the oil. Without this the plantain can be a bit greasy.

Serve with parathas or roti.