Portions: 4 porciones Calories: 476kcal |
If you love plantains nearly as much as I do, this ripe plantain soup with green plantain chips and cheese is just what you need. Mildly sweet, gently spicy, and with a touch of a crunchy texture. It's like heaven in a soup bowl!
Why I ā¤ļø it ā¢ Recipe ā¢ Ingredients ā¢ Preparation
Plantain soup recipe.
Why I ā¤ļø it
Dominicans are not the only ones who love plantains, and we have our green plantain soup. They are just as popular in Colombia, Cuba, and Puerto Rico and well-appreciated in other Latin American countries. Let's just say that I love creating recipes with our favorite fruit (yes, plantain is a fruit).
If you are wondering how to make plantain chips at home, you're lucky. This soup is garnished with them, and I will show you how easy it is to make them. You'll be pleasantly surprised by this soup. After all, anything that combines ripe plantains and green plantains is like a double dose of awesome.
Plantain soup recipe
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Utensils and tools
- Medium soup pot or Dutch oven
- Mandolin slicer or potato peeler
- Small saucepan
- Blender
Ingredients
To make the soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large white onion, chopped
- Ā½ red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 very ripe plantain, peeled and chopped
- 6 cups [1.5 liters] of vegetable broth
- Ā¼ teaspoon of cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley
- Ā¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon salt, (or more, to taste)
- Ā¼ teaspoon hot sauce (optional)
To make the plantain chips
- Ā½ cup vegetable oil, (peanut, corn, or soy)
- 1 green plantain
- Ā¼ cup grated sharp cheddar, (optional)
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley or cilantro leaves
Preparation
Before starting, please make sure you have all the ingredients and utensils ready.
Step 1: Boil the plantains
Heat the oil over medium heat in the pot. Add onion and cook and stir until it starts to become translucent. Stir in bell pepper, garlic, and ripe plantain. Cook and stir until the garlic releases its aroma (about a minute).
Add the broth and cumin powder. Simmer covered for 5 minutes, or until the plantain is cooked through. Mix in the parsley and cool to room temperature.
Step 2: Slice green plantains for chips
Peel the green plantain and slice very thinly (use a mandoline slicer or potato peeler).
Step 3: Fry the chips
Heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a small saucepan. Once the oil is heated, add the chips one by one, don't pile them up (you will fry them in several batches) or they will stick to each other.
Turn when they brown on one side to brown evenly. Remove them from the oil and let them rest on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Fry the remaining chips as before.
Step 4: Blend and reheat soup
Puree in a blender.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir in the spicy sauce.
Step 5: Serving
To serve the soup, either serve it at room temperature (which I really liked) or reheat it in the pot.
Sprinkle with cheddar and plantain chips. Serve immediately.
Top tips
- The plantains should be very ripe, and the peel should be nearly all, or all black, but before the plantain turns mushy.
- Cheese is entirely optional. Without it, you'll have a very nice vegan plantain soup.
- The hot sauce is also optional and should be so mild that it does not overpower the other flavors, aim for just a bit of a kick. Or leave it out. It's up to you.
- You can use low-sodium broth if you want to keep the sodium level down.
- Chicken broth or beef broth is not a good choice because they tend to overpower the mild flavor of the ripe plantains.
Serving suggestions
This is a light soup great for a very light lunch or dinner, but also perfect to serve as a starter.
The green plantain chips add a nice contrast in texture, but you may leave them out.
You can top it with store-bought plantain chips too, and save yourself some time.
Nutritional information
Calories: 476kcal - Carbohydrates: 36g - Protein: 3g - Fat: 38g - Saturated Fat: 4g - Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g - Monounsaturated Fat: 23g - Trans Fat: 0.1g - Cholesterol: 7mg - Sodium: 1581mg - Potassium: 529mg - Fiber: 2g - Sugar: 20g - Vitamin A: 2224IU - Vitamin C: 40mg - Calcium: 65mg - Iron: 1mg
Inspiration
The idea for this plantain soup recipe came from a book a friend gave me many years ago called La Cocina Venezolana. The first dish I tried from the book is the sweet plantain soup upon which I based this recipe. I have to say it has been changed to a significant degree, and I love the result.
The changes I made included adding a ton of ingredients (the recipe only had about four), not using lard (not easy to find anymore), garnishing with plantain chips instead of chopped tostones for extra crispiness, adding bell pepper for extra flavor and color, adding hot sauce - a touch of spiciness that I find goes great with the mild sweetness of this soup - and garnished with cheese.
FAQs
How many calories are in plantain soup?
This plantain soup contains 476 calories.
How do you make plantains ripen faster?
An old trick to ripen plantain faster is to wrap them in newspaper and keep them in a warm and dark spot.
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Creamy Plantain Soup Recipe
Ingredients
To make the soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large white onion chopped
- Ā½ red bell pepper chopped
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 plantain (very ripe), peeled and chopped
- 6 cups of vegetable broth [1.5 liters]
- Ā¼ teaspoon of cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley
- Ā¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon salt (or more, to taste)
- Ā¼ teaspoon hot sauce optional
To make plantain chips
- Ā½ cup vegetable oil (peanut, corn, or soy)
- 1 green (unripe) plantain
- Ā¼ cup grated sharp cheddar (optional)
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley or cilantro leaves
Instructions
Step 1: Boil the plantains
- Heat theĀ oilĀ over medium heat in the pot. AddĀ onionĀ and cook and stir until it starts to become translucent. Stir inĀ bell pepper,Ā garlic, andĀ ripe plantain. Cook and stir until the garlic releases its aroma (about a minute).Add theĀ brothĀ andĀ cumin powder. Simmer covered for 5 minutes, or until the plantain is cooked through. Mix in theĀ parsleyĀ and cool to room temperature.
Step 2: Slice green plantains for chips
- Peel theĀ green plantainĀ and slice very thinly (use a mandoline slicer or potato peeler).
Step 3: Fry the chips
- HeatĀ vegetable oilĀ over medium-high heat in a small saucepan. Once the oil is heated, add the chips one by one, don't pile them up (you will fry them in several batches) or they will stick to each other.Turn when they brown on one side to brown evenly. Remove them from the oil and let them rest on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Fry the remaining chips as before.
Step 4: Blend and reheat soup
- Puree in a blender.Season withĀ saltĀ andĀ pepperĀ to taste, and stir in theĀ spicy sauce.
Step 5: Serving
- To serve the soup, either serve it at room temperature (which I really liked) or reheat it in the pot.Sprinkle withĀ cheddarĀ and plantain chips. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Published by Tia Clara - Oct 22, 2015
Dong Cheadle
Kinda bland, needed additional hot sauce to enjoy this soup over rice... The 4 star rating is mainly due to the fact that roasted ripe plantains are amazing and waiting for plantains to get ripe and then using them in this soup instead of roasting them was not preferable.
Tia Clara
Hmmm... I guess it's a matter of taste. This is not something to serve over rice, it's a bowl of creamy soup. I loved it as is, but I guess you did not.
Karen
you did not tell me when lunch was!!!!! š
Yanette
Love this recipe.
TitaMar
This was very tasty! Thanks for the receipe. Its the first time I eat platano maduro soup.