Maduros is a plantain dish that is popular in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, and Maduros.
This is a very versatile dish as it is based on the the staple fruit of Caribbean dishes – plantains.
Maduros is basically fried plantains.
Maduros may be served as an excellent side during breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We have combed through the internet to find you 3 tasty Maduros dishes.
1. Maduros (Sweet Fried Plantains)
Miriam Buhr shares a Puerto Rican way to cook Maduros on YouTube. The recipe calls for the following ingredients:
Note the measurements here don’t really matter for reasons you will understand once you are done preparing this recipe. This dish is very freeform so it is up to you to decide how much cheese or salami you add to the dish.
Prep
You first prep this meal by cutting up the plantains. You want to make sure you are placing the plantains on a cutting board as they will be much easier to cut. If you don’t use a cutting board you increase the chance of cutting yourself in the process.
To prep the plantains, cut the ends of the plantains off first. Next, take a knife and run it along the long side of the plantain. After you run the knife along an edge of the plantain, you will be able to pull the skin of the plantain off revealing the actual edible part of the plantain.
After your remove the skin from the plantains, cut them into quarter inch slices. You want to cut small slices in order to fry them efficiently. If your plantains are too thick, it will be harder to fry them well. You may even be stuck with a situation where some of your plantains fry faster than other plantains.
Prepare the cooking area by putting around a cup of vegetable oil in the skillet. You want to make sure to use enough oil for the amount of plantains you are using. The plantain slices should have enough room to be submerged under the oil.
Cook
Cooking the plantains is a very simple, painless process. First, begin by heating up the oil in your skillet. Once the oil heats up you want to drop the plantain slices into the skillet. Fry these plantain slices until they turn a brownish color. You should be able to see a caramelized color on the outside of the plantains after you are done frying them.
Grab a plate and line it with paper towels. Once you line the plate with paper towels, transfer the plantain slices from the skillet to the plate with paper towels. We use paper towels so they can absorb some of the oil from the plantains, otherwise you will have incredibly oily Maduros.
Serve
Once the Maduros dries off, it will be ready to eat. Transfer the Maduros from the plate with paper towels to any other plate. Or, you can eat directly off of the plate lined with paper towels.
2. Maduros en Alimbar (Sweet Fried Plantains in Brown Sugar)
YouTube channel Sweets and Beyond has an excellent video that covers how to make Maduros en Alimbar.
Maduros en Alimbar is basically ripened plantains that have been fried with brown sugar. This simple ingredient completely changes the game for the taste of Maduros. You will need the following ingredients for this dish:
Sweets and Beyond includes 2 tablespoons of Puerto Rican Rum because it is fun to cook while tipsy. This channel also notes that being loose can help prepare better Maduros en Alimbar.
Prep
To get started, you want to slice the plantains. You want to make sure you are placing the plantains on a cutting board as they will be much easier to cut. If you don’t use a cutting board, you increase the chance that you may cut yourself in the process.
To prep the plantains, cut the ends of the plantains off first.
Next, take a knife and run it along the long side of the plantain. After you run the knife along an edge of the plantain, you will be able to pull the skin of the plantain off revealing the actual edible part of the plantain.
After removing the skin from the plantains, cut them into quarter inch slices. You want to cut small slices in order to fry them efficiently. If your plantains are too thick, it will be harder to fry them well. You may even be stuck with a situation where some of your plantains fry faster than other plantains.
Once you have your plantains sliced up you are ready to move on to the cooking phase of this dish.
Cook
Begin cooking by placing the butter inside of a skillet and melting it. Your heat should be on medium low. While the butter melts, place your sliced ripe plantains into the skillet. You are going to be frying the plantains with butter. Sprinkle a bit of salt over the ripe plantains and wait for them to brown.
Once your plantains begin to form a golden brown color, flip them so the other side can cook as well. Add 2 cinnamon sticks, half a cup of water, a pinch of salt, 1/4th teaspoon of ginger, and brown sugar. Turn your heat up to medium high. If you want, you can also add the rum to the skillet instead of drinking it. This will add a bit more of a kick to your Maduros.
Your plantains should come to a boil after a short while. Once this happens, you should turn the heat back down to medium low. Place a lid over the skillet and wait 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and let the Maduros en Alimbar cool off.
Serve
Once the Maduros en Alimbar cools off, you can plate it however you like.
Maduros en Alimbar is a great side dish choice for Arroz Con Pollo.
This dish is sure to have that sweet touch and can satisfy a desert craving. For added flavor you can sprinkle more cinnamon over the finished result.
3. Pastelon de Platanos Maduros (Ripe Plantain Casserole)
Pastelon de Platanos Maduros is an easy Maduros dish to cook that can feed an entire family and leave room for leftovers.
Prep
To prep this meal, first butter a 1-inch tall baking pan, then preheat the oven to 350.
Next, prepare the minced meat. Grab a skillet and pour the olive oil into the skillet. Heat the oil over medium heat, stir in onion and stir in garlic. Cook for around a minute.
Add the minced meat to the skillet and break the meat into smaller clumps. Cook until the meat is browned. Next, pour in tomato sauce and add bell pepper, salt, and pepper. Stir these ingredients together then cover the skillet. Let the skillet simmer for 3 minutes.
Once 3 minutes are up, remove the dish from the skillet. You are now ready to mix the minced meat with the Maduros. Prepare the plantains by slicing them diagonally and boiling them in water.
Once the plantains are tender, remove them from the water and mash them together with a fork.
Cook
Once you have your plantains mashed, you can begin assembling the Pastelon de Platanos Maduros. Begin by lining the bottom of the baking pan with with the plantain mixture.
Next, cover the mashed plantains with half of the available cheese. Cover the cheese with meat. Then cover the meat with the remaining mashed plantain.
Place the baking pan into the oven, and bake until the top layer is golden brown.
Serve
Once you let the Pastelon de Platanos cool off, you can slice into it with a knife and serve.
Maduros Is a Versatile Caribbean Dish
Maduros is a dish that you can serve as a side to your dinner, or a full course meal.
Maduros shows the versatility of plantains as a fruit that can be used to cook a number of dishes. If you want to snack, we recommend the simple Maduros recipe.
If you are looking for something sweeter that can be served as a dessert than we recommend the Maduros en Alimbar.
If you are someone looking to prepare food for a large number of people, then Pastelon de Platanos Maduros is a dish we highly recommend.
Enjoy your Maduros!
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