How to Boil Plantain

Learn how to boil or steam plantain using this step by step guide. A super easy tutorial where you can use either yellow or green plantain.

If you're from the Caribbean, Africa or even certain parts of Asia, plantain is common place.

However, over the past decade, in the western hemisphere plantain has been trending. Who knew that super fruit that I was raised on would be such a hit.

Plantain is grain free so you will see it pop up in certain practices/lifestyles such as paleo, plant based and gluten free.

I'm going to show you two ways that plantain is eaten in the Caribbean - boiling it and steaming it so you can try this from the comfort of your own home.

What is a plantain?

While to the untrained eye plantain may look like a banana, it isn't the same thing.

Plantain is a close relative to and the same family as bananas, it grows on the tree like a fruit but is often treated like a cooking vegetable.

Generally speaking, they are more starch enriched and bigger in size than their banana counterparts.

When unripe they are green, firm and more savoury in taste.

On the other hand, yellow plantain sweetens as it ripens, especially when the skin is black or has a yellow hue with black spots.

Generally speaking, plantain isn't eaten raw and is usually cooked first before being consumed .

The health benefits of plantain

• They are a good source of complex carbohydrates. Meaning they are slowly digested which in turn keeps the body content and fuller for longer.
• High in fibre, which aids in the flow of digestion and assists with bowel movements.
• A good source of potassium which helps to regulate the blood pressure.
• Enriched in Vitamin A, C and B6, these are essential to optimise eye health, the immune system rejuvenate cells and protect against free radicals (source)

Methods to cook plantain

There are several ways to cook plantain. You can do any of the following;

• Frying
• Roasting
• Grilling
• Steaming
• Boiling
• Baking

As you can see from the above list, you can prepare them a number of ways. In my household we steam, bake and boil them the most.

Frying plantain is more of a treat nowadays, although several years ago that would have been one of the most common ways for my family to prepare it.

Boiling or steaming the plantain

I purposely wanted to show you two methods, to give you a choice.

Boiling is very much straight forward, it involves putting a pot of water on the stove until it has boiled rapidly and placing the plantain in the hot water to cook through.

The thing about boiling is that while it does cook the food in question without a doubt, one of the major disadvantages is a loss of nutrients.

The method of boiling vegetables (in this case we are talking about a fruit) means any nutritional value escapes in the water.

The longer food is boiled for the more nutritional content is lost, it's just that simple.

On the contrary, steaming helps to retain the majority of the nutritional value. Not only is the texture kept intact but the taste is still good and isn't water logged.

You also generally do not need to steam the plantain for as long as you would if you are boiling them.

The preparation

Whether you are steaming or boiling the plantain, the first thing you need to do is wash the plantains skin.

You want to remove any debris, dirt or grim from the outer skin especially if you prefer to leave the skin on.

Have a saucepan of water ¼ full with the steaming basket if you are steaming or ¾ full if you are boiling with some pink salt (this is optional).

It is very important to keep the water hot and up to temperature while you are preparing the plantain.

Next, you will decide whether you went to leave the skin on or remove it. The skin of a green plantain is firmer than it's yellow counterpart (unless it is overripe).

Some people like to leave it and remove it AFTER cooking, also with green plantain it gets discolored so that is another reason why some people keep the skin on.

You will want to chop the plantain into the size that you desire, chunks are always best.

Then add the plantain to the steaming basket or the water to boil.

Remember the cooking time will vary, depending on what method you use and the plantain should be fork tender when it is ready.

The steps

• Thoroughly wash the plantain.
• Meanwhile bring a medium sized saucepan with ¼ of water with a steaming basket to boiling point and the lid on.
• Meanwhile, use a paring knife to slice of the ends of each plantain and score the skin (not the flesh) length ways to remove the peel (if you are keeping the skin on then skip this step).

• Chop the plantain into large chunks or smaller pieces.
• Remove the lid of the saucepan and place the plantain onto the steaming basket.
• Cover with the lid and reduce the heat to medium-low.
• Steam until the plantain is fork tender then drain off the water (wait for the plantain to cool down first, if you are removing the skin).
• Serve accordingly.

Boiling method

• Thoroughly wash the plantain.
• Meanwhile bring a medium sized saucepan with ¾ of water with some pink salt to the boil.
• Meanwhile, use a paring knife to slice of the ends of each plantain and score the skin (not the flesh) length ways to remove the peel (if you are keeping the skin on then skip this step).

• Chop the plantain into large chunks or smaller pieces.
• Carefully lower the plantain into the pot of boiling water.
• Boil for 15-20 minutes or until fork tender.
• Drain off the water (wait for the plantain to cool down first, if you are removing the skin).
• Serve accordingly.

Notes and tips

• The cooking time may vary, depending if you are using extra ripe plantain which is naturally softer in texture and will cook quicker or green plantain which is firmer and take longer to cook.
• When the plantain is cooked (yellow or green) the colour will be more transculent with a brighter colour.
• You can keep the skin on or remove it, it is simply a matter of your preference.
• When boiling the plantain, do not over boil the plantain or it will be too mushy.
• The use of pink salt is optional.
• Make sure the water has reached boiling point, whether steaming or doing the boiling method before preparing the plantain.
• For best results, eat the plantain/serve it immediately.

More recipes to try

• How to Boil Green Banana
• Mashed Sweet Plantain
• Callaloo
• Boiled Dumplings
• How to Make Salt Fish
• Mashed Green Banana
• How to Fix Rice
• Roasted Mashed Yam

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