Tajadas dulces

That’s what these are. Tajada translates to slice, and these are, inded, sweet slices. Slices of ripened plantains. The standard dinner plate in Panama consists of rice, some sort of meat, kidney beans or lentils and these: Tajadas.

The plantain range

This continues my love affair with plantains. Your plantains need to be quite ripe, but not too ripe. You’re looking for a deep yellow tone and a few black spots. When you squeeze them, they should be soft without being mushy.

One average-sized plantain will yield about 12-15 slices or tajadas. It is difficult for me to say how many that feeds, as I can and have eaten an entire plantain fried this way on.my.own. But, I guess you can serve 3 or 4 generously. If you must.

Unlike green plantains, the ripe ones are easy to peel. Simply cut both ends off, cut 2 slits along the length of the plantain and peel. See the pictures below for the step-by-step moves.

First trim both ends.

Second, slit the plantain lengthwise

Third, peel it

 Now that you’ve peeled the plantains, you will slice them. Cut the plantain in half, then slice each half at an angle. You want to cut slices that are about 1/4-inch wide. See the pictures below.

Next you will need a frying pan with vegetable oil that is about 1-inch deep–this generally means about 2 cps in a 9″ skillet. Heat it over medium high fire. Once hot, add the plantain slices to fill the bottom, but still in a single layer. Fry until golden brown, then turn and brown the other side.

They’re ready to serve. For more plantain yummies, follow these links:

Pastelon
Patacones
Plantain Chips

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