Whole ripe plantains rubbed with butter and baked until golden, then split lengthways, filled with ground beef and covered with mozzarella. Sweet plantain against seasoned beef and melted cheese.
The cut is the whole trick
The instruction as it stood said to make the plantain a horizontal and deep cut in half, which does not describe anything you can do with a knife.
What it means: cut along the length of the plantain, down the middle, going deep but not all the way through the bottom. Then press the two sides apart so it opens like a boat, which is where the name comes from.
Go all the way through and you have two flat pieces of baked plantain and nowhere for the beef to sit.
Black skins, not yellow
Plantains for this need to be properly ripe: skins mostly black, flesh soft enough to give under a thumb. That is when the starch has turned to sugar and the oven can caramelise it.
A yellow plantain is a different ingredient. It stays firm and starchy, tastes closer to a potato and cracks rather than opens when you try to make a canoe of it.
Forty minutes, turned once
Peeled, laid on a baking sheet, rubbed all over with butter, and into a 180°C oven. Twenty-five minutes, then turned over for fifteen more.
The turning matters because the side against the tray browns much faster than the side facing up. By the end both faces should be golden and the plantain should look slightly collapsed, which is what makes it easy to open.
The five minutes at the end are only there to melt the mozzarella. The plantains are already done and extra oven time only dries them out.
The filling, while the oven works
Oil, onion and garlic for two minutes, then the tomato, then a pound of ground beef for eight minutes more, seasoned with salt, oregano and pepper.
That oregano was buried in the note attached to the salt on the ingredient list, where nobody doing the shopping would see it. It belongs in the beef.
More ripe plantain
- Ripe plantain arepas — the same fruit, ground.
- Sweet plantain lasagna — plantain layered with beef.
- Ripe plantain empanadas — filled and fried.
- Cooked ripe plantains — the plainest treatment.
Plantain Canoes FAQ
Very. The skins should be mostly black. A yellow plantain is still starchy, will not sweeten in the oven and does not soften enough to open into a boat without breaking.
Lengthways down the middle, deep but stopping short of the bottom skin, then open the two sides out. Cutting all the way through gives you two flat halves and nothing to fill.
Forty minutes in total: 25 minutes, then turned over for 15 more, until they are golden. Then five minutes more at the end, once filled, to melt the cheese.
The recipe bakes them whole, rubbed with butter, which is what concentrates the sugars and keeps the shape intact. Frying whole plantains is difficult and they are far more likely to break when you cut them.
Mozzarella, which is what the recipe calls for and what melts into a sheet rather than into oil. In Colombia queso costeño is also used, which browns more and melts less.
Yes. The ground beef with onion, tomato and garlic keeps for a couple of days in the fridge and reheats in the pan. It also means the whole dish comes together in the time it takes to bake the plantains.
Both, and that is the appeal. The plantain goes properly sweet in the oven and sits directly against seasoned ground beef and melted cheese.
📖 Recipe
Canoas de Plátano Maduro (Ripe Plantain Canoes with Beef)
Imprimir Pin ComentarIngredients
- 4 ripe plantains
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ onion (finely chopped)
- 2 tomatoes (finely chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
- 100 gr mozzarella cheese (grated)
- ½ tablespoon butter (for rubbing the plantains)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Salt, ground oregano and pepper (to taste)
Notas
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Peel the plantains, lay them on a baking sheet and rub them all over with the butter.
- Bake them for 25 minutes, then turn them over and give them 15 minutes more, until they are golden.
- While the plantains bake, heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and garlic for two minutes. Add the tomato, then the ground beef, and cook for eight minutes more, stirring and seasoning with salt, oregano and pepper.
- When the plantains are ready, cut each one lengthways down the middle, deep but not all the way through, and open it out like a boat. Fill with the ground beef and lay the mozzarella over the top. Five minutes back in the oven will melt it.
- Serve the canoes hot.
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