I need a recipe for Cuban Chicken Black Beans and Sweet Plantains?

Question

Can anyone help me out? I used to live in South Florida and I love the Cuban food but can't get here in Indiana. I don't want Plantain chips I want the soft carmelized sweet ones. HeLP!

Answer 1

FRIJOLES ****** (BLACK BEANS) CUBAN  

1 lb. dried black beans

2 qts. water

2/3 c. olive oil

6 cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped

2 onions, peeled and finely chopped

6 sweet chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. powdered chicken or ham bouillon

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. whole dried oregano, crushed

2 tbsp. sugar

2 bay leaves

2 tbsp. dry wine

1 1/2 tbsp. vinegar

1/2 c. chopped onions

Pick over beans, discarding any shriveled, broken beans and foreign particles. Wash well and soak overnight in sufficient water to cover plus an additional 2 inches.

The next day, drain beans; rinse in fresh running water and drain again. Discard any beans that float to top.

Place in large pot of water. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat 2/3 cups olive oil and gently sauté garlic, onions, and chili peppers for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you have pork, bacon, salt pork or ham (even leftovers), you can chop it up and sauté it in the oil for added flavor, but this is optional.

Add 1 cup of drained cooked black beans and mash together with the rest of the ingredients in skillet.

Add this mixture to the pot with the salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, sugar, bouillon, and bay leaves.

Cover and simmer 1 hour on medium heat. Add wine and vinegar, cover, and cook over low heat for another 30 minutes. Uncover and cook until sauce thickens as desired pr add more water if required.

Sprinkle with chopped onions and serve.

Notes: 1 cup of dried black beans yields approximately 2 1/2 cups cooked beans. If you're in a hurry, beans may be cooked in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure. Check the user guide that came with your pressure cooker for specifics.

Nutritional Information: Black beans are high in folate (256mcg), iron (3. 61mg), magnesium (120mg), phosphorus (241mg), and are also a good source of zinc (1. 92mg), thiamine (. 42mg), and niacin (2mg) - approximation based on 1 cup portion size.



Fricase de Pollo recipe

courtesy of Cocina Cubana Club/ Pascual Perez/ Sonia Martinez



I remember my Cuban grandmother's chicken fricase being very much like this one!

4 lbs chicken fryer cut in 8 pieces

6 garlic cloves, cut up

1/2 cup sour orange juice (or mix half-half lime and orange)

1 lg onion sliced

1 lg bell pepper sliced

1 small can tomato sauce

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 small can Petit Pois (English Peas)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup sliced pimiento filled olives

1 tsp capers

1 cup dry Sherry Wine (*)

1 lb potatoes, peeled and quartered

Marinade chicken pieces in garlic cloves, citrus juice, onion and bell pepper for at least one hour. Heat oil and brown chicken. Add onion, pepper and citrus from the marinade. Add tomato sauce, raisins, olives, capers, Sherry, salt & pepper. Add water to cover the chicken. Add the potato pieces in the last 20 minutes of cooking. Add the can of small peas just before serving.

Wonderful over fluffy white rice.

(*) Be sure to use only Sherry that you would drink, as so-called "cooking sherries" are loaded with salt.

Fried Sweet PlantainsGlenn: If you have ever eaten in a Cuban restaurant, you have eaten these -- what many Anglos refer to as "those sweet black bananas."

-- Hawaiian plantains -- are especially popular in Miami for making plátanos maduros. These plantains are very thick and sweet.

3 very ripe plantains (heavy black spotting to a fully black skin)

lard or vegetable shortening to cover half the thickness of plantains

Peel and bias cut (diagonal) into one-inch thick slices. Heat the oil until medium hot -- a drop of water will sizzle.

Fry the pieces briefly, about a minute or two per side. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking, turning occasionally until they are brown and caramelized.

VARIATION: Some people like to lightly roll the plantains in white or brown sugar before frying.

Ingredients

Answer 2

Cuban Style Chicken

Ingredients:

1-1/2 lbs boneless chicken -- 3/4" thick pieces

Fresh ground pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion -- chopped

1/2 cup green pepper -- chopped

1 jalapeno pepper -- chopped

1 large garlic clove -- minced

1 teaspoon cumin -- ground

1 medium tomato -- peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon lemon juice

15 ounce can black beans

Preparation:

Sprinkle chicken with freshly ground pepper to taste.

In a 12-inch skillet, sauté chicken in olive oil about three minutes on each side, remove from pan.

Add the onion, green pepper, jalapeno pepper and garlic to bottom of pan without wiping out, so as to deglaze.

Cook 2 minutes, or until onions are softened. Stir in cumin, tomatoes, lemon juice and black beans.

Return chicken to pan, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Remove lid and continue to cook until chicken is cooked, about 10 minutes.

Serve with rice.

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Pollo en Salsa de Frijoles (Chicken in Black Bean Sauce)

4 chicken thighs and 4 legs

1 large can of black beans

1/2 cup of sofrito casero (onion, bell pepper, cilantro and garlic blended together)

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon of cumin

1 tablespoon of oregano

1 teaspoon of apple cidar vinegar

1/2 can of tomato sauce

Wash and season chicken with salt and pepper and set aside. In a deep cast iron  skillet, add olive oil and saute the sofrito for a minute. Add cumin, oregano and tomato sauce and mix around. Add beans and mix well. Add 1 cup of broth and mix. Let cook for 10 minutes.

Finally add apple cidar vinegar and mix and cook another 3 mins.  Add chicken one at a time and submerge completely in sauce and cook for another 35-40 minutes. Let sit for a few minutes before serving over white rice.

The chicken will taste better if marinated overnight.

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Platanos en Tentacion

This recipe yields enough for 6 servings.

Choose plantains that are VERY ripe. By this I mean so ripe that most people would be tempted to throw them away! The blacker the skin (sometimes even with a whitish cast to it) the sweeter the plantain.

3 very ripe plantains

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp dry white wine

2 short cinnamon sticks

1/8 tsp powdered cinnamon

3 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375 F. Butter (or spray) a glass pyrex dish. Peel the plantains and place in the dish. Sprinkle half the sugar over them. Add the dry wine and stick little pieces of the cinnamon sticks into the plantains. Sprinkle with the rest of the sugar and the powdered cinnamon. Cut the butter in little pieces and dot over the plantains. Bake for approximately one hour.

This is a side dish, not dessert. It is very good served along with a roast and fluffy white rice.

Answer 3

For the sweet plantains:

Put water, sugar and about 3 cinnamon sticks in a pan and let it caramelized some. Peel the ripe plantains and cut them into 3 or 4 pieces, put oil in a  frying pan and brown them. Once they are browned put them in the carmel and let them cook slowly for a few more minutes until they are saturated with the carmel and had taken some of the flavor.  

I didn't give you specific meassures because I eye ball everything. If that don't work for you then use about 2 cups of water and 1/3 of cup of sugar. Use 1 big ripe plantain or 2 small ones.