Avocados, bananas and plantains

[badjak]

Green bananas are cooked or fried here and eaten as starch

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Green bananas are cooked or fried here and eaten as starch

Is that not more of a plantain thing?

 

[Morning Glory]

[Mod.Edit: posts moved to start a new topic (MG)]


Oh nooooooooooooooo. If you aren't the one eating it you can't do that (and you wouldn't if you'd ever eaten one that wasn't ripe)! It's not fun to eat them under-ripe, even if it's only a little under-ripe, it's just not tasty and enjoyable and the texture is odd.

I would say it depends on how you are using them. Agreed they need to be ripe - but there is really soft ripe and firm ripe (and various stages in between). If you were making avocado chips (fries) you would use firm ripe. Similarly for pickled avocado.

 

[badjak]

Is that not more of a plantain thing?

You would say so, but the locals here use unripe bananas (bananas plenty, but I've not yet seem plantains in my area)

 

[karadekoolaid]

Unripe bananas feature on lots of recipes in India, SE Asia and, I imagine, Africa. Curiously enough, in the tropical/subtropical areas of south America, it's the plantain which is preferred.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

I think I came to the conclusion they were an African thing from the Bobotie recipe I had long ago. It was the first time I'd heard of them.

 

[JAS_OH1]

My sister-in-law is from Puerto Rica and she and my brother have a house in Houston...every time I go visit she makes me fried plantains, eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast. Yum!

 

[Timenspace]

fried plantains

So do they taste anything like bananas?
Never had plantains.

 

[msmofet]

So do they taste anything like bananas?
Never had plantains.

I don't think they taste the same. Bananas are sweeter.

 

[karadekoolaid]

Is that not more of a plantain thing?

Not necessarily. While plantains are very popular in Latin America, from Mexico to Brazil, green bananas are popular in Asia.

 

[Morning Glory]

Mod.edit: changed thread title to more accurately reflect content.

 

[JAS_OH1]

So do they taste anything like bananas?
Never had plantains.

No, they taste like a combination of a potato and a banana. They are hard and starchy like a potato. My SIL fries them in butter with some salt, so good!

 

[Morning Glory]

Strange thing is (and I never thought of it before), the texture of avocado is similar to banana, in a way. And it gets softer in the same way, as it ripens. Also, If you cook avocados they slightly resemble plantains. They lose their sweetness.

 

[JAS_OH1]

Strange thing is (and I never thought of it before), the texture of avocado is similar to banana, in a way. And it gets softer in the same way, as it ripens. Also, If you cook avocados they slightly resemble plantains. They lose their sweetness.

But avocado is a bit more slippery than banana. Also, I have never tasted a sweet avocado? The ones I get are savory.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

I bought plantains in Spain and was underwhelmed by them. I'd like to give them another shot though.
What does everyone recommend doing with them?