Tostones (Flattened Fried Plantains)
Cuban · Mexican · Puerto Rican · Street Food
Ingredients
- 2 unripe plantains
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 tbsp salt (or more, to taste)
Dip
- 1 ripe tomato chopped
- 4 sprigs parsley
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Directions
How to make tostones
- Peel the plantains and cut into 1 inch thick slices.
- In a deep frying pan heat the oil and fry the plantains till golden. Flatten the plantains using a tostonera to about ¼” [0.5 cm]. Fry the plantains again until golden yellow on both sides. Serve immediately.
How to make garlic dip for tostones
- Pulse all the ingredients until they are thoroughly blended but not liquefied.
Notes
There are many dishes that several Latin American countries share, but few that get our heart pumping like a plateful of crispy, thinly-flattened, salt-sprinkled, freshly-fried Tostones.
They are so popular amongst Dominicans, that tostones is one of the first things the fledging Dominican home cook will learn how to make.
What are tostones?
Tostones are slices of unripe plantains, fried, flattened, then fried again. It is Dominicans’ side dish of choice, and just as welcome at street food stands as they are on the dining tables.
In Puerto Rico and Cuba, they are known by the same name and are equally popular. In Haiti, they are fried in large slices and are known as Fri Bannann or Banann peze. In South America, they’re also known as tostones in some parts and patacones (plural of patacón) in others. They are also known as fritos verdes (fried green plantains) in the Dominican Republic.
Where does the word come from?
Tostones is the plural of tostón, which is what we still call a single one. Tostón was a Spanish coin used during the colonial period, and later in post-colonial Mexico. The name itself comes from teston (or testoni [heads]) another coin used earlier in France and Italy. The word tostón is used in Spain as slang for money, and in the culinary sense to describe other types of fried or toasted foods (like bread tostones). Which one (to toast, or the coin) gave us the word for the food? Maybe both?
A tostón does, after all, look like a giant ancient coin.