Ripe plantain boiled and mashed with bacon, wrapped around a cube of cheese, breaded and fried. Sweet, salty and smoky in the same bite, and it takes twenty minutes.
Seal it completely
A cube of cheese goes in the middle of each ball and the plantain closes around it. That closing is what decides whether the recipe works.
Flatten a portion of the mash into a disc in your palm, put the cheese in the centre, and bring the edges up and over until they meet. Then roll it smooth between both palms and look at it: any thin patch or visible seam is where the cheese will come out.
Cheese that escapes into hot oil burns immediately, and what is left is a hollow ball and a pan that needs cleaning.
Let the plantain cool
The third step says to let the boiled plantains stand for five minutes and it is worth taking seriously, and even extending.
Hot mash is loose and slippery and does not hold a shape. It also starts melting the cheese while you are still trying to wrap it, which makes the sealing considerably harder.
Cool enough to handle comfortably is the standard.
The bacon goes through the mash
Five strips fried and cut into small squares, then stirred into the plantain purée with the cilantro or parsley, salt and pepper.
It is not a filling. The filling is the cheese, and the bacon is distributed through the plantain so that every bite has some, along with the fat it rendered.
Three plates, in order
Flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs. Each layer has a job: the flour gives the egg something dry to cling to, the egg glues the crumbs on, and the crumbs are what fry crisp.
Skipping the flour is the usual shortcut and it is why coatings slide off in the pan.
More plantain
- Plantain canoes with beef — baked and filled.
- Cooked ripe plantains — the plain treatment.
- Ripe plantain empanadas — fried and filled.
- Potato croquettes — the same trick with potato.
Plantain Balls FAQ
The ball was not sealed properly. Close the plantain right over the cube, roll it smooth in your palms and look for thin patches before breading. Any gap and the cheese finds it in the oil.
One that melts without turning to oil: mozzarella or queso campesino. Aged cheeses separate into fat and solids at frying temperature and make a mess.
Properly ripe, with black patches on the skin. A yellow plantain stays starchy, mashes into something grainy and cracks when you try to wrap it around the cheese.
Yes, the five minutes the recipe asks for and preferably a little more. Hot mash is loose, slippery and will not hold a shape, and it melts the cheese before the ball is even closed.
Yes, up to the breading. Shape and coat them, keep them in the fridge, and fry them when you need them. Chilled balls actually hold together better in the oil.
Twelve, which is what the twelve cubes of cheese are for. Four servings of three.
📖 Recipe
Plantain Balls with Cheese and Bacon (Bolitas de Plátano)
Imprimir Pin ComentarIngredients
- 2 ripe plantains (peeled and cut)
- 5 strips bacon
- 12 cubes of cheese (one for the centre of each ball)
- Water (for boiling the plantains)
- 2 tablespoons cilantro or parsley (chopped)
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- 1 cup flour
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- Oil (for frying)
Notas
Instructions
- Lay the five strips of bacon in a skillet and cook them for a few minutes until done. Take them out and cut them into small squares. Set them aside.
- Put the peeled and cut plantains in a pot of water and cook for 10 minutes from the moment it starts to boil.
- Lift them out of the water and let them stand for about 5 minutes.
- Put the plantains in a bowl and mash them with a fork into a purée.
- Add the diced bacon, the cilantro or parsley, salt and pepper, and stir until everything is evenly combined.
- Take a small portion, flatten it into a disc in your palm, put a cube of cheese in the middle and close the plantain around it into a ball.
- Roll each ball through a plate of flour, then through the beaten egg, then through the breadcrumbs. Repeat until all the balls are coated.
- Fry them in a skillet of hot oil until browned on all sides. Lift them out, drain them and serve immediately.
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