Platain Shell_9jafoodie

Plantain Calabash

when I uploaded this Asun post, I had lots of inquiries about how the plantain shells were made…. I guess the plantain stole thunder from the Asun itself. Unfortunately I live in a part of the world where plantain isn’t always at my disposal, hence the super late recipe. My apologies to everyone who left comments and emailed for the recipe.

Anyways… Here is how I made the shells using a manual lemon juicer, South American use something called a Tostonera which is handy because you can make multiple shells at a time. I personally do not like the height from tostonera made shells.

In this recipe, I am making use of unripe plantain, this is all I have access to at this time. you can make use of plantain at almost all stages of ripeness except for fully ripened plantain

Ingredients

  • Plantains  (one plantain will make 3-5 shells)
  • oil for deep frying

Other : Lemon press

Plantain shell_9jafoodie

Directions

  • Place a deep pot with large amount of oil on medium heat
  • Peel and cut the plantain into 3 inch cubes
  • Fry the plantain chunks in oil until they start to turn brown (about 2 minutes). Remove the plantain from oil

Shell 1_9jafoodie

  • Place the plantain cube in the lemon press and press down tightly

shell 2

  • Open the lemon press, gently toggle on the plantain to remove the shell (repeat until all the plantains are formed

shell 3 shell 4 shell 5

  • Return the plantains to the oil and fry until golden brown

shell 6

Your plantain shells are ready to be filled with whatever your heart desire (ewa agonyin, beans, meat, guacamole,gizdodo,rice etc )

Healthy Variation: Bake the plantain at 350^0 Fahrenheit in step 3 until plantain is firm. follow the rest of the steps and re-bake in step 6 to fully cook the plantain bowls.

Please remember to take pictures if you try the recipe, upload the picture to instagram and tag us @9jafoodie.