Hi friends! When for a yummy sweet (and somewhat savory) treat? I feel like every Spanish culture has some sort of variation of this dish. My mom makes a yuca version that is quite delicious. It’s not sweet at all though– maybe I can share the recipe sometime soon. And the last time we went to guatemala we discovered these sweet relllenos (rellenitos in guatemala) at the market and they were absolutely delicious. The only problem I found was that I wasn’t sure if there was any flour in the mixture and they were fried, definitely fried. Delicious– but fried. Haha.And while eating them and oil dripping down my hands I thought, “well I can surely make this at home and find a healthier way to do it.” And I did. And to be honest, theres not a big difference in taste, texture, or anything. The only difference is that you find yourself less greasy. That’s it. Like I mentioned yesterday, I think the hardest part of this recipe is actually finding the plantains. Unless you live in tropics like us. But I know if you’r win New England or in the middle of the states somewhere there might be more of a search mission involved. Try any Spanish markets and bodegas for sure. It’s almost guaranteed that they’ll have some plantains.

The trick to this is using the super sweet ones. Any range of ripeness in the photo shown below is good. Not sure how to peel plantains? Check out this super easy post: How to cut and peel plantainsΒ πŸ™‚

you’ll need:
four ripe plantains
1 can black beans, drained or 15 ounces dried and cooked black beans
half a small onion, small diced
a few cloves of garlic, chopped or sliced. amount depends on your preference. I love garlic and used five, but could use more πŸ™‚
salt to taste
quarter cup shredded coconut
optional:
coconut oil
cumin
cinnamon

how to:
-bring a large part of water to boil
-peel and slice plantains and boil for a few minutes, about 5, until soft and then drain water and allow plantains to cool.
-in a saute pan, saute garlic and onions for a few minutes. I’ve been cooking with little to no oil these days– but if you’d like to saute in a bit of coconut oil that works too πŸ™‚ just cook until onion is soft, with a bit of color.
-add beans to saute pan and allow to simmer of about 5 to 10 minutes until any extra water is removed. add a bit of salt to season. a pinch cumin and or cinnamon optional if you’d like!
-mash / puree beans. You can do this by hand, in food process, blender, whatever!
-mash plantains. I used a potato masher, but you can easily do it with a fork or in processor.
-once your plantains are cooled enough to handle grab a bit of plantains in your hand and press flat to essentially create a small tortilla.
-add about a tablespoon of pureed beans in the middle and begin to fold the edges in to cover beans complete and close plantains.
-at this point they’ll look like cute little footballs, haha. place one by one on a sheet tray, either with a bit of coconut oil smeared on or on parchment paper for baking.
-sprinkle shredded coconut, cinnamon, and the tiniest bit of salt on top.
-place in oven at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes, until golden brown.



on ours I put coconut on some, cinnamon on a few, and some that just had salt. Since Marlowe can get iffy about coconut. I liked the ones with coconut the best for sure. It’s all a matter of preference!

nom nom nom!

Theres a few steps involved, but each one is so simple, no thinking of overthinking required!

4 Comments

  1. Hey Drea, thank for the recipe, this seems yummy and I would definitely love to try it! I know this will sound kind of silly, but is there an alternative to plantains for this recipe? I cannot find them where I live πŸ™

  2. I have yet to come around to plantains — I only recently began eating them — but I am SO happy to see a recipe up on this site today and I can't wait to see more!

    • wel well well, amber. I posted a smoothie recipe last week, does that not count? haha.

      whats your favorite fruit and/or veg?

      happy new year!

    • lol, I meant after you posted the other day that you would be posting more recipes! I am stoked!

      My favorite fruits are bananas, strawberries and peaches — you'd think that I would love plantains since I love bananas, but I think it's just because I've only recently tried plantains, my palate needs some time to adjust?

      You know I love all vegetables! Except fennel. πŸ™‚