Plantains
Plantains, known to some as cooking bananas, are a common staple in Africa, the Caribbean Islands, and Central and South America. Although they can be eaten as-is, they are a lot starchier than bananas and should probably be cooked. You may have seen them in the supermarket next to the bananas. Some of them are green and hard with a somewhat bland taste, best used for tostones (twice fried plantains). The brown plantains on the other hand, are ripe, soft and very sweet.
I grew up eating plantains regularly in Nigeria. My mom would boil them in soup and would sometimes even roast them over charcoal and server them with peanuts. However, the best way to have these, is when they are ripe and fried. They transform into a caramelized golden-brown treat, best served with your favorite rice dish.
Waffles
Anything waffled is nothing short of amazing. Waffling a plantain took a lot of trial and error before getting it right. On my first try, the only thing I got right was making sure I had a ripe plantain. I figured if I sprayed the waffle maker enough, I should be able to just toss the plantain in there as-is and get some sort of a waffled/fried plantain. Let’s just say I ended up spending over 20 minutes cleaning that disaster off of the grids. However, I persisted because I believe there is always a solution to every problem.
The trick to is to use binding agents! Since the plantain is ripe, it mashes up easily and all that’s left is approaching it like you would a waffle recipe, adding flours, eggs, etc. Luckily I figured this out so you can save yourself the 20 – 30 minutes of a disaster I had when trying to execute this.
Ceviche
Ceviche is a Latin American seafood dish typically made with shrimp, citrus juice, onion and seasoning. Grab a bag of chips and you will be dipping into this ceviche non-stop. I figured it would also pair well with the plantain waffles and it did not disappoint! Of course I had to amp the ceviche up a little with a few ingredients I already had in the house.
Plantain Waffles and Ceviche
Plantain waffles topped with shrimp ceviche
- 1 ripe plantain (large)
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp almond milk (or milk of choice)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ cup oatmeal flour (or flour of choice)
- cinnamon (dash)
Shrimp Ceviche
- ½ cup raw shrimp (peeled, deveined, tail off )
- 1 roma tomato (diced)
- 3 tbsp red onions (diced)
- ¼ English cucumber (cut into small chunks)
- 1 avocado (cut into medium chunks/sliced)
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ½ lime zest
- 1 tbsp jalepenos (diced)
- ½ tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- 2 tbsp cilantro
Plantain Waffles
Heat up waffle maker while you get the plantain ready.
Peel the skin from the plantain and place into a mixing bowl. Mash it up until it's broken down into somewhat of an applesauce texture.
Add the rest of the ingredients under the plantain portion of the recipe and mix them in. You may need to add a little more flour to the batter depending on the size of your plantain.
Grease the waffle maker generously* and fill the waffle maker with the mixture. Be sure not to overfill it. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, until golden brown.
Make additional waffles with the remaining batter.
Shrimp Ceviche
While the plantain waffles are cooking, bring a pot of water to a slight boil. Add in shrimp and cook for about 2 minutes just until pink. Immediately shock the shrimp by putting them in a bowl with ice and cold water.
Once the shrimp are cool, drain the water and pat the shrimp dry. Add the remaining ceviche ingredients (except the avocado) to the bowl and stir to combine.
Place 2 quarter pieces of waffles on a plate and top with ceviche. Top with avocado and enjoy!
The shrimp ceviche can be made a couple of hours ahead and refrigerated, if desired. This will allow all of the flavors to fully meld.
Waffle yield may vary depending on the size of your waffle maker. I used a typical sized, round, belgian waffle maker.
*make sure to read your waffle maker’s instruction booklet to find out which types of grease are acceptable to use without causing harm to the appliance.
**if your waffle maker’s manual instructs that you do not grease the waffle maker, add about a half – one tbsp to the batter.
