Name: Aborrajados
Eaten in: Colombia
Foodie: Elodie
Plantain lover, and cheese lover, this dish was made for you. Aborrajados are a sandwich of pressed fried plantains enclosing a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese , sealed with a milk and egg batter. Yes, you read that right. I would not recommend eating it if you were on a strict diet to lose weight, but if you wanted to treat yourself with something sweet, salty and crunchy, you could give it a try. I actually went light on the cheese, and I think that my aborrajados could have used thicker slices of cheese, but they were tasty nonetheless, and very very rich, so you are warned 🙂
Aborrajados
Print recipe
| Serves | 2 |
| Prep time | 30 minutes |
| Cook time | 30 minutes |
| Total time | 1 hour |
| Meal type | Side Dish, Snack |
Ingredients
- 2 Medium ripe plantains
- 3 slices of fresh mozzarella
- vegetable oil for frying
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon milk
- pinch salt
Directions
| 1. | Peel the plantains and cut them cross wise into 3 big chunks of about 1.5 in (3 cm) |
| 2. | Heat up the oil in a medium size pan and fry the plantain chunks until golden on each side. The chunks of plantain should be mostly immersed in the oil |
| 3. | Remove the plantain from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels until cool enough to handle |
| 4. | In the meantime, prepare your batter: in a small bowl, mix the flour, egg and milk until you obtain a smooth batter. Set aside |
| 5. | Using a rolling spin, or a plantain smasher (tostonera) if you have one, flatten the plantain chunks to about ¼ in (0.5 cm). The original recipe suggests placing the plantain chunks on parchment paper and using the bottom of a pan to flatten them. The riper the plantains, the more sticky they will be |
| 6. | Now it’s time to assemble the sandwiches: place a slice of cheese in the middle of a plantain patties, cover with another patty and press the edges of the patties together to completely seal the cheese in. Depending on the size of your patties, you might have to cut the cheese in smaller pieces to make sure it will completely fit inside |
| 7. | Heat some oil in a medium pan, you can use the same oil bath as earlier |
| 8. | Dip a sandwich into the batter that you prepared earlier, remove it from the batter using a slotted spoon and place it in the hot oil. Repeat with the other sandwiches, but do not overcrowd the pan. |
| 9. | Fry until brown on one side, then turn it and fry it on the other side. |
| 10. | Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel |
| 11. | Serve warm |
Note
The batter provides crunchiness to the aborrajados, storing them in the fridge and reheating them in the microwave will make them lose that crunchiness, therefore it is better to eat them the day they are prepared.
Adapted from My Colombian Recipes
