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Lentils & Patacones

This week’s mission was to illustrate the use of the plantain in Panamanian cuisine. For this purpose, I decided to cook lentil soup with plantain, and boneless pork chops in a rosemary and black olives sauce accompanied by patacones and tajadas.

Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped tomato
• 1/3 cup finely chopped garlic
• 1 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed
• 2 green plantains
• 1/3 cup of dried oregano
• 1/3 cup of dried basil
• 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground toasted cumin
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Mexican chorizos (optional)
• 1 cup of green onions (optional)

Instructions

1. Place lentils in big pot and fill 2/3 full with water on high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium/medium-low and bring to simmer.
2. Add dried basil, dried oregano, chicken broth, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cover bottom of skillet with EVOO. Sauté onion, tomato, cilantro and garlic with pinch of salt and pepper until tender. Remove from flame, and add to lentils.
4. Peel plantains and cut into 1.5″ pieces. Wait until lentils are half way done to throw plantains in pot. Keep a close eye on lentils so they don’t dry out; put more water in pot if needed.
5. Taste liquid after a minute and season accordingly each time. Try to have a well-seasoned, substantial amount of liquid by the time lentils are done.
6. Once lentils are tender, remove from heat. Take out plantain pieces and set aside for a moment.
7. Place all lentils and what you can of the liquid into food processor, leaving some liquid in the pot. Run processor until lentils have been processed. (Don’t worry if the texture of the lentils looks heavy, it will be fine once reunited with liquid.)
8. Put the processed lentils back into pot over medium heat. Add the plantains and bring it to a simmer.

*** Optional: Pan-sear one Mexican chorizo, remove casing and cook until most of the fat is drained. Place paper towels on a plate and put cooked chorizo on them to finish draining.  Add 1 ½ tablespoons per serving and top with raw green onions.

Final Product:

This soup takes about 2 hours to make. The main deterrent regarding time is how long it takes the lentils to cook. I like to cook everything slowly, that way I have more time to play with the seasonings in an effort to get the flavor I want. For me, the measurements on any soup-like recipe are subjective. It might take longer for you to cook the same amount of lentils, or you might be using a different type of pot that makes water evaporate faster forcing you to put more water in it. Tasting the liquid each time you add water and seasoning accordingly is the key to maintaining the integrity of flavors in your soup; don’t forget that.

Patacones and Tajadas

The green plantain is used to make patacones and the yellow plantain is used to make tajadas. The difference in coloring is caused simply the maturity of the plantain. A green plantain is in its early stage, making it tougher with a more savory flavor.  A plantain turns yellow in its later stages, making it softer with a sweeter flavor.

Ingredients:

2 green plantains

2 yellow plantains

1/2 liter of frying oil

Salt

Pepper

Instructions:

1. Peel plantains
2. Put oil in frying pan or pot over high heat; add pinch of water and cover. Oil will start splashing; once it stops, reduce heat to medium-high. You know oil is ready when the splashing ends.
3. While waiting for the splashing to stop, cut green plantains in ½ – 1″ pieces. Salt and pepper to taste. Diagonally cut yellow plantains in ½” pieces.
4. In batches, fry green plantain first. Make sure not to overcrowd pot. Remove them once they turn golden on the outside. Fry yellow plantains until they start rising to the surface. Place plantains on paper towels so they drain excess fat; set aside.  They are complete!
5. Find a mug or cup with flat bottom surface. Lightly brush oil on its flat surface. Crush the ½ – 1″ pieces with the mug until flattened.
6. Put flattened pieces back in hot oil and wait for them to ride to the surface, or until they reach the desired crispiness.

Final Product:

This recipe should not take more than 40 minutes. It’s very easy.  The more practice, the faster you become. Aqui en Panama we use plantains just as Americans use potatoes; it’s a universal side dish, so try it with everything.

Next week I’ll be cooking two more plantain inspired dishes for the interns to try. I’m thinking about some puree maybe… and I’m definitely cooking some platanos en tentacion.

Reviewer: DU Michael Withrow

“I had the pleasure of partaking in a wonderful meal prepared by senior Segovia. We started off with the lentil soup with plantains. I have had lentil soup before but nothing with this much flavor. The chorizos really set the dish off for me and gave it a nice spicy taste without being too obnoxious.  The texture was well handled for the soup. Good consistency all the way to the last spoonful; not thick like stew but not runny either. My only gripe with the soup is that the plantain portions seemed a little large.

Next were the patacones and tajadas. Personally I am more partial to the patacones but both patacones and tajadas were excellent and went well with the soup and pork. The pork had so many flavors working together it was hard to pinpoint a single taste. It was delicious and very well cooked but also very busy. The plantains were an excellent side to work with the seasonings used on the pork. They really helped level the plate out and make the meal complete.

All in all a very well executed meal that highlights the diversity of the plantain. Compliments to the chef.”