Plantain Frittata Recipe

Plantains are like hugs, warm, fuzzy and loving bear hugs, that cover you with such happiness and satisfaction. Plantain is common in West and Central Africa, South and Central America and the Caribbean Islands. These starchier cousins of bananas are delightfully delicious, and as an all-season fruit, one can enjoy different recipes all year round.

Fried plantain is the first love of many as it is a wonderful accompaniment for rice dishes, egg and sauces. Explore your taste buds with other healthier options such as baking it in the oven, grilling barbecue style, cooking it in gravy, in beans, with fried rice or even mashing it up with cinnamon and delectable spices to make a plantain pancake. If you love plantains as much as I do you will find lots of different ways to cook and eat it.

Plantain frittata is an all-time favourite in my house hold. We love plantains and we love eggs with lots of peppers and spring onions, so what better recipe to whip up than this. It looks amazing and so inviting with all the colourful vegetables and it’s a nice sharing dish to enjoy with the family for weekend brunch. Take your typical Spanish omelette or frittata and swap the potatoes with plantain and throw in any or all of your favourite vegetables. Serve it with tomato sauce and a crusty roll, a baguette or whatever type of bread you love to eat.

Like I always say, make it your own!
Ingredients

3 Large stalks of plantain
10ml Vegetable oil
2 Beef sausages
1 Bunch of spring onions
1 Medium green bell pepper
1 Medium red bell pepper
4 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Dried Thyme leaves
8 medium eggs

Estimated cooking time: 30 minutes, Serves 2-4 hungry tummies.

Recipe

1. Wash and peel the skin off the plantain stalks. Cut into cubes and season with salt if preferred. I try to keep the salt to a minimum. Heat about 10ml of vegetable oil, or less depending on your preference and frying tool. Fry the cubes till they are a light golden brown and set aside.

2. Sausages can be grilled or fried in vegetable oil. Quicker and better to grill them to avoid using and consuming too much oil. Make sure to cook through to avoid food poisoning. Leave the sausages to cool and then cut into cubes or rough chunks.

3. Wash and chop the green and red peppers. In a clean deep frying pan, heat 4tbs of extra virgin olive oil under low heat, then lightly cook the peppers, add the cooked plantain and sausages, season with salt, pepper and thyme to taste and stir to fill up space in the entire pan. Chop
the spring onions and stir into the dish just before adding the eggs. Spring onions are nicer when they are a little crisp, over cooking will turn them soggy.

4. Crack eggs individually to check for freshness. The yolks of fresh eggs should be thick and bright yellow or mustard colour. Avoid watery or pale coloured eggs, as this may not be from a good lay or may be past its sell-by date. Season eggs with salt and pepper to taste and whisk.

5. After frying the sausages, peppers and spring onions for less than a minute, pour in the whisked eggs and spread around the deep pan by tipping it and swirling from side to side, gently. Reduce the heat and cover for 5 minutes. This is to allow the eggs to slightly rise, creating a fluffy interior.

Remove the pan cover and let cook for further 2 minutes. Peek at the bottom of the crust to check if it’s cooked.

6. Once its ready, place a white plate on top of the pan; one large enough to cover the entire contents of the pan. Carefully turn the pan upside down while firmly holding the plate against it. Once you have successfully turned the pie upside down, slide it back into the pan to cook on the other side. This might be a little messy, but it must be done, unless you can pop the oven proof pan into your oven in order to cook the top of the frittata.

7. Repeat as before; cook for 5 minutes to make sure it is well cooked. Stick a fork in it to verify that eggs have been cooked through.

8. Serve the plantain pie on a dish and cut into 4 large triangles or 8 smaller pieces. Now spread your tomato sauce generously onto the pie, you can also add cheddar cheese generously grated onto it.

What a delight!!!

Lerato Umah is a television broadcaster, TV chef, food writer, food lover and dedicated pleasure seeker. Editor In Chief of leratolovesfood.com