Ingredient Selection – Plantains Not Ready to Puree, Can They Be Saved?

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I was planning in making plantain empanadas but the plantains were not really ready and after boiling them for a long time and trying to puree them they ended up being only a pile of crumbly plantain little pieces that will not hold together to make the dough.

Is there anything that I could do in order to "save" them and still use them for the desired purpose?

I was thinking to maybe blend them with some liquid, like water or even cream, but I don't want to try something doomed to fail without asking first.

Any recommendation will be welcomed and appreciated.

Best Answer

Assuming that you're making Empanadas de Plátano Maduro, You can't really "save" them.

In the course of ripening, plantains convert starches to sugars. This change also changes the structure of the plantain flesh, from firm to soft & sticky. This isn't a small conversion, it's a change in like 20% of the plantain flesh. Nothing you can do is going to substitute for that sticky, ripe-plantain texture, and I can't find any verified way to make them ripen once you've peeled and cooked them. Sorry!