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Tostones
Serves 4 Prep 10 min Cook 15 min Total 25 min Type Side Origin Cuban

Tostones

Twice-fried green plantain rounds: golden disks, crisp on the outside and starchy-tender inside, smashed flat between two fryings and dunked into garlic-mojo while still hot. The standard Cuban side with roast pork, fried fish or rice and beans; also a snack with a beer.

Serves 4 Prep 10 minutes Cook 15 minutes Units Rate

Overview

Green (unripe) plantains are peeled, sliced into thick rounds and fried gently in oil at moderate heat to par-cook them through. Each round is smashed flat to roughly twice its original diameter, then fried a second time at higher heat until deep gold and crisp. Salted immediately. Served with a garlic-citrus mojo for dunking.

Ingredients

Tostones

  • 3 green plantains (large, firm, unripe, dark green skin)
  • 500 ml sunflower oil (or vegetable oil, for frying; needs to come 1 cm deep in the pan)
  • Flaky salt

Garlic-mojo dipper

  • 6 garlic cloves
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice (or replace both juices with 4 tablespoons sour orange juice if you can find it)
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • Black pepper

Method

Stage 1 - Peel

  1. Cut both ends off each plantain.
  2. Score the skin lengthways in 3-4 places, just through the skin not into the flesh.
  3. Slip your thumb under the skin at each score and peel it off in strips. Green plantain skin clings; cold water or a sharp knife under the edge helps.
  4. Slice each peeled plantain into 2 ½ cm thick rounds (slightly thicker than a £1 coin times two).

Stage 2 - First fry

  1. Heat 1 cm of oil in a wide pan to 160°C (a piece of plantain should bubble gently when added).
  2. Add the plantain rounds in a single layer; don't crowd.
  3. Fry 3-4 minutes a side, until pale gold and just tender when poked with a knife. The plantain should be cooked through but not browned.
  4. Lift onto kitchen paper.

Stage 3 - Smash

  1. While still hot, smash each round flat between two pieces of parchment, a clean cloth or the bottom of a heavy glass. Press to roughly half the original thickness and twice the diameter, about 1 cm thick.
  2. The rounds should hold together. If one falls apart, press the pieces back together; it'll fuse on the second fry.

Stage 4 - Mojo (while plantains rest)

  1. Pound the garlic with the salt to a paste in a mortar (or pulse in a small processor).
  2. Stir in the cumin, oregano and pepper.
  3. Whisk in the lime juice and orange juice.
  4. Warm the olive oil in a small pan until just hot but not smoking. Pour over the garlic-citrus mix; it will hiss. This cooks out the raw garlic edge. Let it cool to warm.

Stage 5 - Second fry

  1. Raise the oil temperature to 180°C.
  2. Drop the smashed rounds back into the oil; fry 2 minutes a side until deep gold and visibly crisp around the edges.
  3. Lift onto kitchen paper. Salt generously while hot.

Stage 6 - Serve

  1. Arrange on a warm plate with the bowl of mojo for dunking.
  2. Eat immediately. Tostones go leathery within 15 minutes.

Notes

  • Green plantains: Hard, dark green, no yellow patches. Yellow plantains are too sweet and don't crisp; they make maduros instead.
  • Salt the mojo aside, not in the marinade: A scant amount of salt in the mojo because the tostones themselves are salted heavily out of the oil.
  • Smash thickness: About 1 cm. Too thin and they crisp through with no soft middle; too thick and the centres are still chalky.
  • Hot oil for the second fry: 180°C minimum. The crisp shell is set in this stage; tepid oil gives soggy tostones.
  • Plantain press: A tostonera is the proper tool but unnecessary. The bottom of a heavy glass or mug works; a flat plate works.

Variations

With mojo on top: Spoon mojo over the tostones rather than dipping; gives a wet, garlicky version. Stuffed (tostones rellenos): Smash hot tostones in a cup-shape rather than flat; second-fry, then fill with seasoned shredded beef or shrimp. With lime alone: A simpler version: a squeeze of lime and salt, no mojo.

Serving

Serve with: Roast pork (lechon), ropa vieja, picadillo, fried fish, black beans and rice. Excellent with cold beer. Garnish with: Fresh coriander, lime wedges.

Storage

  • Best eaten within 15 minutes of frying.
  • Don't refrigerate or reheat: texture is gone.
  • Par-fried rounds (after Stage 2, before smashing) can be refrigerated 24 hours; smash and second-fry from cold.

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