🇵🇪 Peruvian Plantains, or How to Cook Plantains like in Peru

Plantain (or ‘plátano‘ in Spanish) is popular in Peruvian food, and across Latin America in general. It’s a typical side dish in the traditional Latin American meal: white rice, beef or chicken, and beans. Does it ring a bell, anyone? It’s also very common in several African cuisines and in South East Asia. For us vegetarians, fried or baked plantains were a great substitute to meat. We fell in love ever since we discovered them on our travels! And the good news is that they can be found all over the world. So here are 3 dead-easy recipes showing how to cook plantains like in Peru.

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Jump to:
Peruvian plantains?  |  How to cook plantains  |  Health benefits
Recipes:
Fried plantain  |  Plantain chips  |  Peruvian upe  |  Other options
How to cook black plantains  |  Sustainability

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Plantain fruit

This yellow, green or sometimes reddish starchy fruit grows in regions with tropical climate. So in America, this food is not only common in Peruvian cuisine, but also Bolivian, Colombian, Ecuadorean and Brazilian kitchens, as well as in some Central American countries.

They’re widely grown in farms and gardens and you will recognise the plantain tree from its big, dark green leaves. These, by the way, are used as natural wrapping material for other typical food from the region.  

Plantain is very similar to banana, but bigger; and when you peel it, the flesh is harder, yellower. We’ve mainly come across the green and the yellow versions in Peru and are fans of both; we use them for different preparations. 

Peruvian plantains

As I said earlier, plantains are a HUGE thing in Peru. In restaurants, they often add a piece of fried plantain as a side apart from rice, and at households, plantain chips count as a snack. Healthy? I’m not entirely sure about that.

And if that wasn’t enough, some regions in Peru came up with the idea of integrating their beloved plantain into their drinks repertoire. That’s basically the story of the upe drink! While travelling in Peru we often prepared fried plantain to accompany our fried egg and rice, or just the rice and some salad. Because it’s so easy to prepare and it’s delicious!

Despite its high importance in traditional Peruvian cuisine, plantain doesn’t originate from Peru. In fact, not even from South America. It’s believed that plantains come from Southeast Asia. There are two types of plantain: the horn plantain and the French plantain. Both types grow in Peru and are used in the Peruvian cuisine.

So how to cook plantains?

Plantains are versatile, there is not only one way to cook them. Even the Peruvian cuisine alone offers variations of the food. Think about it as an alternative to potato: luckily, there are not as many types… (Did you know that the Incas knew over 3000 varieties of potato?!)

There are two versions of the fruit: unripe (green) and ripe (yellow). Both versions are always cooked some way or another; so even though they look like banana, don’t get tempted: they taste awful when raw.

The unripe version is called “platano verde“ (‘green plantain’)

The flesh is surprisingly harder than what I would expect; that’s probably me being too used to bananas.

It’s used to cook plantains chips: I’m showing you how later in this article. The western world knows that as an alternative to dried fruit snacks. However, in Latin America, plantain chips are considered a side to main meals.

Another use of platano verde is a thick, milky morning drink called “upe“. We found out about this interesting, warm drink from the family of our Couchsurfing host in the north of Peru. In that region, starchy drinks are often sold on the street at breakfast time (so basically at 5 am). I will also show you how to cook the plantains to prepare that drink.

The yellow plantain is called “platano maduro“ (‘ripe plantain’)

It more closely resembles a banana, both because of the colour of its skin and the consistency of its flesh.

In this article, I’ll tell you how to cook fried plantains. You can eat them either as a side for a traditional rice-and-meat dish, or as a vegetarian substitute to meat.

The latter is rarely the case in Peru, as Peruvians are religiously meat eaters; for many, it’s simply impossible to have a meal without some sort of meat. In fact, a dish composed of white rice, fried egg and fried plantain is known there as “Cuban Rice” (Arroz a la Cubana). Peruvian food is definitely not vegetarian!

Yellow plantains have a natural sweet taste as opposed to the green version so it’s not surprising that in other Latin American countries, unlike in Peruvian meals, they’re used for desserts.

Both types of plantains are rich in fibre, some vitamins (A, C, B6) and potassium. Fibre is good for digestion, the vitamins help prevent some diseases (like cancer) and potassium helps maintain your heart healthy.

Plantain will make you feel full for a long time. So it essentially prevents that nasty hunger feeling between meals that prompts us to snack. There’s no reason not to eat them! Check out more benefits on PrecisionNutrition.com.

The reasons we love plantains

As vegetarians, we quickly learnt how to cook plantains for our main meals. It’s tasty and nutritious; quick and easy to prepare; doesn’t require a lot of ingredients; the fruit is widely available; and it’s cheap!

You can find them at almost every market place in Peru and in other South American countries; and more often than not at street sellers too. It’s very easy to confuse the ripe plantain with banana – and we made this mistake a couple of times. So if you are not a pro at recognising them yet, better ask to make sure. 

Over the months of our travels we managed to perfect our plantain cooking skills (it wasn’t hard at all!). In this post I’m going to share 3 easy-to-prepare and typical Peruvian plantain recipes. Moreover, because plantain can be found in the western world too, why not try it and spice up your meals with it?

Here’s how to cook these plantains recipes

Peruvian fried plantain

Ingredients:

• Yellow ripe plantain (platano maduro); 1 is enough for 2 people 
• Oil to fry

Method:

• Peel the plantain and cut it into about 5-cm-long pieces. Then cut them lengthwise into 2 or 3, depending on the thickness. You want to end up with 5 x 2 cm pieces. 
• Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the plantain over medium heat on both sides until they get a bit brown outside.
• Finally, dry them well from any excess of oil. 

Serve it the Latin way with white rice and beans.

Peruvian plantain chips

Ingredients:

• Green plantain (platano verde); 1 is enough for 2 people as a side dish
• Oil to fry

Method:

• Peel the plantain. If the skin doesn’t separate from the fruit easily, use a knife. 
• Then slice the plantain into thin slices. The thinner you slice them, the faster they will cook. 
• Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the plantain on both sides. They are ready when they turn yellow.
• Finally, dry the excess oil and season them with salt if you want. 

You can use a mandoline to make extra thin slices; those chips in Peru are called chifles. Try making chifles out of yucca and sweet potato too.

The plantain doesn’t stay oily and is crispy, so it’s a nice breakfast option. You can also prepare it as a snack with spicy sauce or mayonnaise, or serve it as a side to rice dishes.

Upe, the plantain morning drink 

Ingredients:

• Green plantain (platano verde); 2 are enough for 3 cups of the drink
• Milk
• Water
• Sugar to taste

Method:

• Peel and grate the plantain on the smallest hole sized grater. Don’t worry, it’s not difficult so it won’t take long. 
• Then put the grated plantain into a saucepan, add milk and water. If you like it more milky, add more milk than water. 
• Bring it to boil and simmer it on a low heat. Add sugar depending on how sweet you’d like it. The plantain won’t dissolve completely but cook it until fairly smooth. 

It’s a typical morning drink, so serve it warm. Since it’s a thick drink it will make you feel full. But just to make sure, it’s eaten in Peru with cooked potato and cheese for breakfast.

How to cook other plantains options 

As I said, plantain is similar to potato; so it’s also possible to come up with different preparation methods which are healthier than frying. Try baking or grilling – it should keep the nice taste and colour.

Patacones (or in other regions they call them tostones) are another popular dish – they’re everywhere in Colombia too. Plantains get squashed and then fried twice, resulting in a flat disk resembling bigger plantain chips.

Or if you are rather interested in making a dessert, check out how to cook other Latin American countries’ plantains recipes. We heard that for example in Venezuela they’re eaten caramelised! Have you had that before? Tell us how it was in the comments below!

What to do with black plantains

We’ve almost never seen black plantains on the market, because the fruit always sell like hotcakes. But surely, if you forget about them at the back of your fruit drawer, plantains will turn back – just like bananas. At this stage they haven’t gone off yet, they are still safe to eat, but it can be a bit challenging to prepare them.

Grating and slicing them is clearly not an option, because they are super soft! So peel them carefully and try to cut them into bigger pieces to fry them. As they are really sweet, you’ll end up with a super nice, caramelised plantain (side) dish! Make some for your daughter’s next birthday party and I promise instant success.

A note on sustainability

Please think about your carbon footprint!

Unless we live in a tropical region, where plantain grows locally, this fruit is going to be imported to our country. While it’s really fun and exciting to prepare food with exotic ingredients from faraway countries, remember that the carbon footprint of these imported goods is huge.

No problem in buying plantain (and other exotic foods) occasionally. We sometimes get some and have fun with these easy recipes. But for our everyday cooking, we stick to local and seasonal ingredients that have lower carbon footprint. 

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Do you know any other recipes with plantains, ripe or green?
Share them with us in the comments below!

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