Fried Plantain Stuffed With Ground Beef

Bolon de verde – mashed dark-green plantain dumplings or balls blimp with cheese and/or chicharrones (or chorizo or bacon) and fried until crispy- is another traditional Ecuadorian recipe from the coastal region.

En Español

This classic Ecuadorian breakfast dish consists of green plantains which are fried over medium heat until very tender, then mashed into dough, stuffed with cheese or pork, formed into round balls, and then fried again until crispy. Bolon is a slang term that means large ball, so you could interpret the name of this dish as green plantain assurance, simply I think light-green plantain dumpling is probably a better food translation.

These bolones or stuffed dumplings can be served for breakfast or brunch; they are also a bully side dish or adept appetizers.If you are serving bolon de verde for breakfast or brunch I propose that you back-trail it with hot coffee, a fried egg, hot sauce, and some tomato or avocado slices.

Jump to Recipe

Bolones are typically stuffed with cheese or with chicharrones, which I accept to clarify that unlike in Mexico and Central America where chicharrones are fried pork rinds, what we call chicharrones in Republic of ecuador are actually chunks of deep fried fatty pork meat– yeah, not the healthiest, but very tasty.

For this recipe I made some bolones stuffed with cheese and others blimp with chorizo, instead of chicharrones.In some cases the concluding step of frying the stuffed dumplings is omitted and instead the bolon de verde is served right after being stuffed, personally I prefer to fry it again because I dearest the crispy exterior that information technology gets and it also ensures that the dumplings are prissy and warm when you eat them.

I tried to come up upwards with a healthier variation by humid the greenish plantains until tender –as opposed to frying them -, only it is much harder to get the right consistency that way, instead I ended up making another dish called majado or molloco de verde – a dish with similar ingredients to bolon de verde but instead of making dumplings you merely brew the plantains and mix everything together (similar to a potato hash).

Green plantains can be somewhat difficult to peel, the best way to skin them is to make the lengthwise cut on 1 of the protruding edges, the cut should be skin deep simply without touching the actual mankind of the fruit, next use the knife to raise the skin and and then pare off the skin with your hands. The greener they are the harder it is to pare them equally the flesh tends to stick to the peel, in that case skin it as best you lot can then utilize a knife to remove the stubborn parts of the skin.I do this nether cold running water to proceed them from staining everything and from darkening.

For a vegetarian version you can stuff the bolones with cheese, also if you are ever traveling in Republic of ecuador and want to society these equally a vegetarian dish –same thing applies for many other dishes – yous should know that lard is used more than oil to fry or cook food (even rice), and about people are so used to it that even if yous specifically request no meat in your dish they will sometimes even so utilise lard -called manteca – in the preparation of your vegetarian dish,this is not done non out of evil, just out of habit.

4 green plantains peeled and cut in medium sized chunks
4-5 tbs butter or lard
2 tbs oil canola or sunflower
one tbs hot pepper or chili pulverisation
1 tsp cumin
1 cup grated cheese and/or one loving cup cooked chorizo or chicharrones (fried pork belly) or salary
Salt to sense of taste
Ground peanuts optional – add when mashing the greenish plantains

Melt the butter or lard over medium oestrus in large sauté pan
Add the plantain chunks and cook for about 40 minutes or until they are very soft, turn them virtually every 10 minutes, they should be slightly golden but non too crispy.
Sprinkle the cooked plantains with the chili powder, cumin and salt.
Transfer the plantain pieces to a bowl, do this while they are however hot (but be careful not to burn yourself).
Mash the plantains using a wood masher – or just a regular potato masher – until you obtain chunky dough like consistency.
Grade assurance slightly smaller than the size of a tennis brawl with the dough.
Make a hole in the middle of each brawl and fill up it with the cheese or chorizo or chicharrones (mixed with ground peanuts), gently press the filling into the hole, cover the filling and reshape it back into a brawl shape.
Heat the oil over high estrus, add the blimp plantain dumplings and fry them until they are golden and crispy on each side.
Transfer to plate lined with paper towels to drain the grease and serve immediately.