Alloco recipe

Plantains fried at the black skin stage, when their sugar caramelises, and served with a fiery onion and chili sauce.

30 minuteseasy7 ingredients

Ingredients

• 4 ripe plantains
• 500 ml peanut oil
• 1 onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 fresh chili pepper
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp salt

How to make Alloco

1. Pick 4 plantains whose skin is almost black. A yellow one stays starchy and will never caramelise, which is the whole point of alloco.
2. Peel them and cut on the bias into slices 1.5 cm thick.
3. Toss the slices with 1 tsp of salt and the juice of half a lemon, then leave them 5 minutes; this seasons them from the inside.
4. Heat 500 ml of peanut oil in a deep pan to about 170 °C, hot enough that a slice sizzles at once.
5. Fry in a single layer 3 to 4 minutes a side until deep golden and the edges have caramelised, then drain on paper.
6. For the sauce, blend 2 tomatoes, 1 onion and 1 chili, then fry the puree in 2 tbsp of the hot oil for 10 minutes until it darkens and thickens.
7. For the raw street version instead, slice the onion and the chili thin, salt them and squeeze the rest of the lemon over.
8. Serve the alloco hot with the sauce alongside, on its own or with grilled fish or a fried egg.

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