Plantains in Cinnamon Sugar

Fried plantains are currently my favorite sweet treat.

We have a whole bunch (no pun intended) of bananas growing at Papaya villa. Three types in fact – plantains, cavendish, and small sugar bananas (lady fingers)

I pick a couple of plantains at a time and leave them on the bench to ripen, then nice thick slices fried in butter until golden, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and maybe a side of vanilla ice cream or coconut cream…

At about 327 B.C. Alexander the Great during his world conquest came in contact with this fruit and introduced it into Europe.

Plantain found its way into Madagascar from Malaysia and India through trading Asian merchants and by Arabs during the Trans-Saharan trade boom.

Plantain and banana trade along with yam and other food crops became a very important factor in the wealth, prosperity and rapid expansion of the Bantu Kingdom of central and southern Africa around 1500 AD.

The history of banana and plantain in the Caribbean has also been traced to the activities of the Portuguese Franciscan Monk who introduced it to the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo in the 1516, having himself come in contact with this fruit in the Canary island, brought there by his compatriots about a hundred years earlier.

Today, plantains are popular and eaten boiled or baked or fried or mashed in many parts of the world today like Florida, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Japan, Malaysia, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, and of course Vanuatu!

Fried sweet plantains in cinnamon sugar are always on the menu at Papaya loco.  Join a class and learn how to prepare them