Recipe: Venezuelan Tajadas (Fried Plantains)

28 Sep

Tajadas are slices of plantains that are fried.   They are served usually as a side, and they are also used to make other dishes like plantain desserts.   They are also a part of the traditional Venezuelan dish, the “Pabellón Criollo”.

Ripe | Yellow Plantain

Ripe | Yellow Plantain


Ingredients
– 1 Ripe/yellow plantain
– 1 Cup vegetable oil – or as needed (for frying)
– Paper towels

Preparation

1. Pour the vegetable oil in a large enough pan and turn on the stove to medium heat, so the oil starts heating up while you prepare the plantains.
2. Cut the two ends of the plantain and make an incision with a knife along the side.

Cut Ends

Cut Ends

3. Remove the skin.

Remove The Skin and Cut In Half

Remove The Skin and Cut In Half

4. Cut the plantain in half.   You can make a straight/down the middle kind of cut, like I did here, or a slanted cut to have more oval like tajadas instead of what I did, which are more rectangular Tajadas. If you cut them in the slanted way, they look better, but the flavor is the same. Check out the slanted ones here (text is in Spanish, though).
5. Now make about 4 slices out of each side of the plantain by slicing them sideways, to form slices of about 0.25 – 0.75 inches.   Don’t make them thicker than that.

Make Slices

Make Slices

6. Lay the plantains on the frying pan and begin to fry them until they are golden brown, turning them if necessary, to fry both sides equally. It took me about 2 minutes per side.

Fry the Plantain Slices

Fry the Plantain Slices

7. Remove the tajadas from the pan one by one and lay on top of a paper towel to remove the excess oil.

Remove Excess Oil

Remove Excess Oil

8. Serve and enjoy!

Venezuelan Tajadas

Venezuelan Tajadas

*One plantain makes about 8 Tajadas (depending on how thick you slice them).   This is a good serving for just 2 people.

¡Buen Provecho!

6 Responses to “Recipe: Venezuelan Tajadas (Fried Plantains)”

  1. Dude December 4, 2015 at 10:42 #

    U NEED TO INCLUDE THE PRICE

    • mwolowicz December 4, 2015 at 10:46 #

      Dude,

      Thank you for visiting the blog and thank you for your comment. What do you mean by your comment? You want to know the price of what? The price of the plantains depends on where you buy plantains.

      MW

    • mike January 20, 2022 at 19:21 #

      do you know what season to eat this ??

      • mwolowicz January 21, 2022 at 09:40 #

        Mike,

        Thank you for visiting the blog and thank you for your comment and question. That is a good question. Plantains are similar to bananas and they are available year-round. The important part is knowing when the plantains you have bought are ripe or not. Read more about how to identify the right stage of plantain and what type of recipe you can cook with in this other post about plantains here in my blog:

        Plantains

        For this recipe, you want ripe plantain.

        MW

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Machuca de Plantano (Mashed Plantains) | Cooking with Spanky - September 28, 2011

    […] Recipe: Venezuelan Tajadas (Fried Plantains) (venezuelancooking.wordpress.com) […]

  2. Recipe: Pabellón Criollo « Venezuelan Cooking - December 14, 2011

    […] – Carne Mechada (Venezuelan Shredded/Pulled Beef) – Caraotas Negras (Venezuelan Black Beans) – Arroz Blanco (Venezuelan White Rice) – Tajadas (Venezuelan Fried Plantains) […]

Leave a comment