Grand Forks, North Dakota

Yummy! They brought me back to Euador where my husband and I first met. I omitted the water steps as that just sounded dangerous to me. I used plantains that were yellow with black spots to get a sweeter taste and cut them about 1 1/2 inches thick. I also followed LatinaCook's suggestion of initially frying them for a shorter period of time--about 2 minutes per side. Then I drained them on paper towels before flattening them (I think it helped to cut down on some of the grease). Then I fried them again as the recipe called, drained and salted...my daughter loves these!

I lOVE this stuff. It's delicious, it freezes and reheats well and my picky cornbread family loves it. It's sweet, but not too sweet and easily adaptable to whatever palate you are serving. I always use a greased and preheated cast iron to bake it in and sometimes add cheese, bacon or jalapenos (and sometimes all of them!) for a change of pace.

I halved the recipe and used approximate measurements and it still turned out similar to what I think it would, had I followed and measured exactly. I added a bit more vanilla than called for and served it warm over bread pudding III from this site. I was looking for something a bit more vanilla-y...this did the trick as far as adding moisture, but was more of a glorified simple syrup sauce than a rich, vanilla sauce that I was hoping for.