User:Panaricanchef

Latin American cuisine includes many different recipes from various countries. One dish can have several variations. Take Plantains for example. You can cook them when they are green and make "tostones" as they are called in Puerto Rico, or "Patacones" as they are called in Panama. You would first take a green plantain peel and cut it into 1-2 inch equal pieces and fry them until golden. While they are frying prepare a bowl with water, adobo, and garlic powder. Remove the plantains from heat and flatten them using a tostonera. Dip them in the bowl where you have mixed the water adobo mix. After dipping them return to oil and fry 1-2 minutes until crisp. A second way to cook plantains is to let them ripen from green to yellow or almost black. Peel and cut the plantain in half, and then cut horizontally to give you long strips. Fry these strips in oil and remove after golden. Because they are ripe these will be sweet. In Puerto Rico they are called platano maduro or simply maduros. In Panama they are called tajadas. <refhttp://allrecipes.com/video/727/how-to-make-fried-sweet-plantains/