Veggie Wednesday ~ Baked Plantain Chips

When I thought about posting a week worth of vegetable based posts this marathon, I planned to showcase a vegetable and nothing else as the star ingredient in each post. These posts are going to include simple, every day recipes that I cook in my kitchen and it is turn of the the humble green plantain today, in the form of baked chips. I don't claim them to be the exact clones of the fried version but they fit the bill if you are looking for some grease-free and guilt-free snacking. Pick the green skinned plantains for a crispier version and peel the skin as shown in this post.

Ingredients: (About 30 - 35 chips)
1 medium sized plantain (green colored)
2 - 3 pinches of salt
1/4 tsp red chili powder or to taste (Pepper powder or any other spice powder of your preference can be used. I used very spicy chili powder.)
1 tbsp. oil (I used canola oil.)

Method:
* Preheat the oven to 375 deg F.
* Cut off the edges of the plantain and make a slit running a knife along the seams. Peel away the skin with your hand. Or peel the plantain twice to reach the cream skin of the plantain inside. (Otherwise the plantain chips will have a dark blackish colored border. There is no harm in eating them but it doesn't look that appealing to me.)
* Thinly slice the plantains. Go as thin as you can though paper thin is not needed.
* Combine salt, chili powder and oil in a bowl. Add the plantain slices and toss the bowl to coat. If you think the slices are not evenly coated, use your hand to combine.
* Place them on a foil lined baking sheet in a single layer.
* Bake them around 10 minutes and flip them. Brush with oil again if needed.
* Bake around 8 - 12 minutes again or until the edges start to brown. Watch like a hawk at the final stages and do the taste testing if needed since they can go from being crispy to hard in an instant. (One can also tap them with finger tip to check the whether they are done.)
* Serve them as a snack or with guacamole or as a part of a south Indian lunch. They remain crispier longer than the fried version.
 
Notes:
* If the plantain slices were cut unevenly, then the thinner ones get baked earlier than the thicker slices. In that case, go on removing the thinner chips as soon as they are done and don't wait until all the slices are baked.
* Don't be tempted to bake until golden brown since the resulting chips would be 'hard to bite' kind instead of being crispy. They would have been done even if they appear yellowish. One can even turn off the oven at the last minutes of baking and leave the chips in the oven until the desired crispiness has reached.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51

Comments

An InLinkz Link-up