Aranitas means spiders in Spanish. Do not worry, you will not need to go chase some tropical spider to realize this dish, all you need are plantains and garlic. Garlic is in my opinion what really gives this dish its taste. I had never had, nor made aranitas before, but they were pretty easy to prepare. Most of the recipes call for green plantains, which is the least ripe of the stages. I’ve prepared them with both green and yellow plantains. As expected, the yellow plantains were a little harder to grate because they are less firm, but they gave sweeter, though slightly less crunchy aranitas.
One word of caution however: make sure not to use plantains that are too ripe, otherwise your plantain shreds will all mash together.
Aranitas
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| Serves | 1-2 |
| Prep time | 30 minutes |
| Cook time | 20 minutes |
| Total time | 50 minutes |
| Meal type | Appetizer, Side Dish |
Ingredients
- 2 plantains
- 6 cloves of garlic, (minced)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 plantains
- 6 cloves of garlic, (minced)
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
| 1. | Peel and shred the plantains on a coarse grater |
| 2. | Soak the plantains in salted water for 10 min |
| 3. | Dry the grated plantains and press with paper towel to soak up excess water |
| 4. | Mix the grated plantains with the garlic, and add salt and pepper to taste |
| 5. | Heat some oil in a medium pan on medium high heat |
| 6. | Fry the shredded mix by the spoonful in clumps until golden, about 2-3 min on each side |
| 7. | Drain on paper towel |
| 8. | Word of caution: be careful not to make your aranitas too big, as they will take longer to cook, and you might end up with a cooked outside and not cooked inside. A level tablespoon is a good amount. |
Word of caution: be careful not to make your aranitas too big, as they will take longer to cook, and you might end up with a cooked outside and not cooked inside. A level tablespoon is a good amount.
