Culture Kitchen: Nicaragua

Ingredients

• Plantains – preferably ripe ones

• Salt

• Queso fresco

• Olive oil – People use other oils, but this oil is the best for everything.

Chef’s Notes

• This recipe calls for ripe plantains. A ripe plantain is best when it's mostly black with a little yellow, and still slightly firm to the touch, like when you squeeze a peach. Plantains sweeten as they ripen.

• Plantains are a major staple food in Nicaragua, and they are eaten throughout the country. They can be prepared in many different ways depending on their ripeness and preference, including boiled, baked, and fried

• Plantains vs. Bananas: Plantains are usually larger, tougher, and more starchy than bananas. They also have much thicker skin.

• They are also one of the most important crops grown in Nicaragua, and the 10th most important food crop in the world