SLC-S28/W6 | Local Taste, Global Twist : My Signature Challenge

Every Nigerian's kitchen has plantain speciality
and what trends in that category is the unripe plantain recipe. We do even see plantain chips snack which shows that plantain can be used for various purposes other than domestic preparations. I'm a fan of this and it shocked me to see that this food is a global one because it's a local Nigerian product.

When we hear of unripe plantain, it's either it's used to pay bride price in the village, or used to prepare dirty plantain porridge and the likes. To Nigerians generally, the unripe is rather local than the ripe. I didn't know foreigners eat plantains too but in a classic way. There's this recipe that's their favourite brunch Tostones.

My signature dish is the fried unripe plantain and stew. Most people enjoy eating ripe plantains, but the unripe is my favourite and to me, it's way sweeter than the ripe. Why? Because it's crunchy. So I'll be focusing on explaining how I prepared this signature dish. From the looks, you'll agree with me that it's a lot of food types as we have proteins, carbohydrates, fats and oils and vitamins. Just imagine. I don't know what made me think of this food combination, but here it is.

It all started when I made with three unripe plantain by cutting its tips. I thought of making a direct sauce but I had my tomato ketchup. So the only inclusion was my fried egg. Anything locally made with local tastes is best cooked with red oil. These were the steps taken to prepare this recipe.

• Basin
• Kitchen Knife
• Cutlery
• Plates and soons
• Bowl and flat plates
• Frying spoon
• Red oil

• 3 Unripe Plantains
• 1 raw egg
• 1 cube of Maggi
• Two teaspoon full of salt
• onions and spices
• Tomato ketchup
• Red oil
• Paw Paw

• The first thing you must do when making your fried unripe plantain with sauce is to peel your plantain from its shell and then contain it in a basin where you'll have to wash it off. After I did that, I sliced it either a sharp knife in a thin way so that the crunchy and crispy taste would be there.

• I love slicing mine into circle shapes, small and can be dried when fried. I contained my slices in a plate and then sprinkled salt on the slices so that it can taste well. The salt makes the unripe plantain sweet and satisfying than the ripe

• I placed my pan on a cooker and contained it with red oil. You know one thing about using red oil to fry things, it's more tasty and local than using groundnut oil to do the frying. It also gives it this golden brown look even as it's unripe. It's better with unripe than ripe. After placing my pan on medium heat and allowing the oil to cook for 3 minutes, I emptied my slices into the pan and then used my frying spoon to turn it after 2 minutes.

• While checking it, I contained my egg in a bowl, added a pinch of salt, a cube of Maggi, onions and pepper to taste. After this, I stirred the egg to mix with its condiments. I then refried the plantain I already fried to make it crunchy like the plantain chips I used to eat. After this, I used the same pan to fry my egg and I used a small quantity of oil to do that to avoid making it too oily.

• My egg was done. Same with my plantain. I used my tomato sauce and ate the combo. It was very satisfying. This is the story behind my meal.

This fried unripe plantain with egg is one local food we eat in the village when we want to taste a classic local food. What makes the food local? It's the red oil. It's believed that if you fry eggs with red oil, you were born and brought up in the village as most people don't like such. In town, ripe plantain is usually fried, not unripe. So this recipe of mine has local roots as my aunts in the village won't even wait for the plantain to be ripe. They'll either cook it to be eaten with sauce or they fry it for holiday makers.

This origin is tailed down from plantain chips. Nowadays, I don't see people hawk plantain chips they way they used to do back then. And it's basically unripe plantain they use. Some people dry it first before frying so that the chips nature of the plantain would be prominent. Others use a slicer to make it thinner so that when fried, it would be crispy.

Globally, it's called Tostones because it's a twice-fried type of unripe plantain recipe. It's twice-fried to make it crispy and crunchy like the plantain chips here in Nigeria. It's a common dish in America. In some parts, they even have a Cafe for this kind of dish. It can be eaten with different combos as they have their own type of sauce.

What makes my Nigerian Tostones stand out from other dishes I've made is the fact that it's very satisfying. If you fry just one unripe plantain and drink with water, you'll be satisfied. You may not even want to eat lunch. Most of the fries I've made can't be compared to this and I made it so unique with a touch of fried eggs and sauce. The combination is very unique because on a normal, I've been eating unripe plantain with red oil and salt or if fried, I'll eat it with tea and eat it with water.

Another reason why it stands out from other dishes I've made is that it looks like an appetizer but it's a real meal. I can't in good conscience call it an appetizer. It's easy to prepare and fast. It didn't take up to 30 minutes before I could come up with this dish even though the plantain slices were much. You don't need complex ingredients to create this recipe. Just your red oil and saltis enough.

If I want to share it with someone on the Steemit platform, it would be no other person than @sergeyk. I admit he's Ukraine and may not be used to my traditional recipe, but he'll definitely come to like it when he gives it a try. Some of the things that may make him detest the food aren't here. Some elderly people don't eat food with too much salt and pepper.

My recipe is moderate and why I want him to eat this recipe is because he once did a tomato ketchup for a learning challenge and I'm sure he tasted it. Nigerian ketchups are different and unique. He'll definitely love to try this combo. I may not know if he eats unripe plantain, but a trial will convince him. And that doesn't just end there because I added a fruit to make it a balanced diet. The fruit is Paw Paw.

This is the final result of my recipe