Platanos Fritos

The Platanos on the left side of the plate are "unripe", and the ones on the right side of the plate are ripe ones, notice how they are much darker after being fried. The riper ones are sweeter, and personaly, my favorites.

Ingredients:
3 Platanos (Plantains), ripe (mostly black peel) or "unripe" (yellow peel)
Oil for frying
Salt
a Cheese cloth or Paper Towel
a Meat Hammer

Directions:
Heat oil in a frying pan. Peel the Platanos, and cut into 2-inch pieces. Fry these pieces for a few seconds, until the outer portion is lightly fried, remove from oil and place in a dish to cool (this should not take long since they were only frying for a few seconds). Place one of the rounds vertically between the Cheese Cloth (fold the cheese cloth over it so that it is both bellow and above the Platano). Then, with the meat hammer, pound the platano until it is a flat disk. Once you have completed this with all the pieces of platano, put them back int he frying pan and fry until they are crispy. Remove them from the oil and drain them on a paper towel or the cheese cloth. Sprinkle with salt.

If the Platanos are very ripe and soft, cut into slivers and only fry once. Then serve, they most likely do not need to be sprinkled with salt, but use your descretion.