Plantains are a staple ingredient in Puerto Rican food as well as other Caribbean and tropical cuisines. Most people know of sweet plantains, but you can eat and cook with either ripe plantains (sweet) or green plantains. Both are delicious.

I’ve wanted to share a recipe for pastelón, a dish akin to lasagna that I love, for a while now. Just about everyone I know that tries it also loves it. When provided the opportunity by Walmart to share information on Chiquita’s plantains, I immediately knew that this pastelón recipe would be perfect to accompany it!

First, let me share a quick explanation of plantains. Plantains are not bananas, but they are like cousins. There are green ones, yellow ones, and those that lean towards black. Green plantains are not sweet and are used in Puerto Rico to make dishes like tostones (fried green plantains) and mofongo. Yellow plantains are ripe and have a sweet taste. They are the ones used to make amarillos (or maduros in some countries), which are fried ripe plantains. The black-ish plantains are even more sweet and their texture is very soft. For pastelón, you want very ripe plantains, so try to pick out black plantains mostly when making this dish. Chiquita also offers the following advice for picking out plantains and what you can do with each type: if green, fry them; if yellow, grill them; if black, bake them. A quick note: not all Walmart stores carry plantains, but hopefully you can find some in your town since they’re so very delicious and I wouldn’t want you to miss out!

Now, let’s get to the recipe for pastelón, which I just know you’re going to love! Be sure and tell me if you try this, ok?

Pastelón (Plantain Lasagna) Recipe

Ingredients:

• Ground beef, about 2 lbs.
• Adobo
• Meat tenderizer
• 1 tbsp. white vinegar
• Sazón, 1 packet
• 3 tbsp. tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 2 tbsp. sofrito
• Spanish olives, 5-6 diced
• Salt, as needed
• Vegetable oil (for frying)
• Ripe plantains
• 3-4 eggs

Steps:

Cook Ground Beef

You will need to make a sofrito as a base for the ground beef. To see pictures and links for the basic ingredients used in Puerto Rican sofrito, click on over and read 5 Must-Have Ingredients for Cooking Puerto Rican Food. As with previous recipes I’ve posted, I apologize for the lack in detail with the ingredients and the steps, but it is true to how I and everyone in my family cooks. We do not measure and just go along pouring items into the pot.

1. Season ground beef with adobo and meat tenderizer.
2. Add vinegar, sazón, tomato sauce, tomato paste, sofrito, and olives.
3. Brown the beef and cook until well done.
4. Keep on low heat until ready to use.

Peel and Fry Plantains

1. Heat vegetable oil in a large frying pan.
2. Peel each plantain by cutting off the ends, then carefully slicing down the skin length-wise. Separate the plantain from the peel. (See image above for example.)
3. You will need to slice each plantain into layers by cutting length-wise across the plantain. Each layer should be thin, but thick enough to pan-fry. (See image below for details.)
4. Carefully place each plantain layer into your frying pan. You want the plantain to have a golden-brown color, turning each layer halfway-through so that both sides get a nice color.
5. Once both sides of the plantain are golden-brown, remove from oil and place on a paper towel covered plate so the oil is absorbed.
6. Repeat steps 4-5 until all your plantain layers are fried.

Assemble and Bake Pastelón

1. Using a lasagna dish, layer the fried plantains to cover the bottom of the dish.
2. Spread cooked ground beef on top to cover the length of the dish.
3. Repeat steps 1-2, creating alternating layers of plantains and ground beef.
4. Crack open your eggs into a bowl and beat as you would for scrambled eggs.
5. Pour the egg over the top of the pastelón, making sure to get some into the corners, sides, and middle. This helps seal the pastelón, so it doesn’t break apart as much when serving.
6. In a microwave oven, cook the pastelón on high heat for about 6-8 minutes. Check to be sure egg has cooked thoroughly. You could probably also bake the pastelón in a conventional oven, but my mother always uses the microwave when she makes pastelón, so it’s what I learned.

That’s it! You now have a delicious pastelón ready to serve and enjoy. This goes great with a side of white rice, but a salad would be good too if you prefer. I hope you try this recipe that is popular in Puerto Rico and love it as much as I do!

Have you ever cooked with plantains? What’s your favorite plantain dish?

Disclosure: ModernMami.com and its owner, Melanie Edwards, is a member of the Walmart Moms program, resulting in compensation for this post.

This is a sponsored post.

When I think of tasty food, I immediately think of the Puerto Rican food I grew up eating. It equals comfort food for me. Of course, I eat other types of food as well, but the food from Puerto Rico that I know and love is first on my list. It’s also the food I know how to cook without needing a recipe. I have my mom to thank for teaching me; thanks mami!

A favorite meal of mine is carne guisada (or carne guisa as we Puerto Ricans sometimes say). It’s basically a beef stew, with different flavors than the American beef stew known to most. Puerto Rican carne guisada is normally served with white rice and is definitely a meal that hits home. The great thing about this meal is that it is inexpensive. Even when adding beans and plantains as I did, you still get a meal with a cost per serving of about $1.90!

Luckily, here in Orlando (as I’m sure is the case in other cities with a high population of Caribbean folks) I’m able to find all the ingredients I need at my local Walmart. This is convenient for me since I can do all of my grocery and household shopping in one stop, without the need for special stops at the local bodega, as my mom used to do when we first moved here.

I’m going to share with you the recipe for each item in the meal I cooked: carne guisada, white rice, red beans, amarillos/platanos maduros (fried ripe plantains), and tostones (fried green plantains). Both the carne guisada and the red beans use sofrito as a base. To see pictures and links for the basic ingredients used in Puerto Rican sofrito, click on over and read 5 Must-Have Ingredients for Cooking Puerto Rican Food. As with previous recipes I’ve posted, I apologize for the lack in detail with the ingredients and the steps, but it is true to how I and everyone in my family cooks. We do not measure and just go along pouring items into the pot.

Puerto Rican Carne Guisada/Guisa (Beef Stew)

Ingredients:

• Beef stew meat
• Adobo
• Meat Tenderizer
• Cooking Oil
• Sazón
• Tomato Sauce
• Tomato Paste
• Sofrito or Recaito
• Olives (use the Spanish salad olives with pimientos)
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced or cubed

Steps:

1. Clean the stew meat and cut, if necessary, into smaller chunks. Add the meat to a large pot along with enough water to completely cover the meat. Season the mix with adobo and meat tenderizer. Cook uncovered on low-medium heat for about 40 minutes or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Add a serving-spoon’s worth of cooking oil. Not a tablespoon, but the bigger spoon one uses to stir a pot.
3. Add 1 packet of sazón.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.
6. Add 1 tablespoon of sofrito or recaito.
7. Add 5-6 olives with a teaspoon of the vinegar from the olives.
8. Add potatoes and carrots.
9. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Stir occasionally.
10. Raise heat to medium-high for about 10 minutes to let the sauce thicken a bit, again stirring occasionally.

Arroz Blanco (White Rice) in a Rice Cooker

Ingredients:

• Rice (about 1 handful per person) – Note that this is plain, non-instant white rice.
• Cooking Oil
• Salt

Steps:

1. Put rice into your rice cooker’s pot and clean the rice. If you’re not familiar with how to clean rice, it just means that you run it under water a couple of times and pick out the dark grains, pebbles, etc. To do this:
   • Fill pot with water and press rice with your hands.
   • Pick out anything that’s not a rice grain.
   • Pour out water, being careful not to lose any of the rice.
   • Repeat a few times until water pours out clear.
2. Add water to the pot until the water sits just above the rice. (I’ve heard that normally it is a 2-1 ratio: for every cup of rice, you add 2 cups of water. I’ve never cooked it this way, as I don’t measure when I cook.)
3. Add a serving-spoon’s worth of cooking oil. Not a tablespoon, but the bigger spoon one uses to stir a pot.
4. Season with salt.
5. Stir.
6. Taste the water. If you feel it needs more seasoning, you can add a little more salt to your liking.
7. Cover and set the rice cooker to cook.

There will be no need to stir the rice while it cooks, though you certainly can do so once about mid-way through. Your arroz should be done in about 30 minutes or so. You will know it’s done when you taste the rice and it’s neither mushy nor tough.

Habichuelas Rojas (Stewed Red Beans)

Ingredients:

• 1 can of red kidney beans
• Cooking Oil
• Sazón
• Tomato Sauce
• Tomato Paste
• Sofrito or Recaito
• Olives (use the Spanish salad olives with pimientos)

Steps:

1. Drain and rinse beans from the can and pour into a medium saucepan.
2. Using the same bean can, fill to top and add to saucepan.
3. Add ½ a serving-spoon’s worth of cooking oil. Not a tablespoon, but the bigger spoon one uses to stir a pot.
4. Add 1 packet of sazón.
5. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce.
6. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.
7. Add 1 tablespoon of sofrito or recaito.
8. Add 5-6 olives with a teaspoon of the vinegar from the olives.
9. Cover and bring to a boil.
10. Once boiling, reduce heat to low-medium and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
11. Sauce should thicken a bit while cooking.

Amarillos/Platanos Maduros (Fried Ripe Plantains)

You can make amarillos, or maduros as other cultures call them, one of two ways. You can buy ripe plantains, peel, cut, and fry them yourself. Or, you can take a shortcut by buying them already peeled and cut in the frozen section. I’ve done both and normally prefer to buy fresh plantains, but opted for the shortcut version this time around. It really is as simple as opening the packet and either deep or pan-frying them in vegetable oil. A modern twist is to bake them in the oven, if you wish.

Tostones (Fried Green Plantains)

Similar to the amarillos, you can either make tostones from fresh green plantains or buy them frozen. I used to make tostones fresh, but with the busy lifestyle we lead, buying them frozen saves a lot of time.

To make them fresh:

• Peel the green plantain.
• Cut into thick slices.
• Soak the slices in salted water.
• Fry the slices until half-done. Deep frying works great, but you can also pan-fry them.
• Remove from oil and press into a flat circle. You can use a tostonera if you have one, or you can use the bottom of a bowl.
• Re-fry the tostones until golden brown.
• Remove from oil and place on paper towels to absorb the oil. Sprinkle salt on top for seasoning.

To cook frozen tostones:

• Open the packet and either deep-fry or pan-fry in vegetable oil.
• Remove from oil and place on paper towels to absorb the oil. Sprinkle salt on top for seasoning.

If you try this meal with your family, I would love to hear how you/they liked it! What are some favorite meals in your home?

Disclosure:  As a member of the Walmart Moms program, I was compensated for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.