Peanut Chicken & Fried Plantains

Jose reads a LOT of books. His favorite place to go is the bookstore. Usually we head to Borders, but one day a month or so ago, we went to Half Price Books instead. I like the bookstore too, but every weekend is a lot, and we had JUST been to the bookstore the weekend before. So I complained a little bit, but off we went — and once we got there, I (of course) found multiple books I wanted to get. (Unlike Jose, my desire to read books far outweighs my ACTUAL reading time.)

I ended up buying this Caribbean cookbook for a grand total of $4.  This may be the first cookbook I’ve ever bought that doesn’t have some variation of “quick and easy” in the title, and a lot of the recipes — especially the meat and seafood dishes — are a bit intimidating because they involve whole fish, or whole chickens.  I’ve never cooked chicken in any form other than the skinless, boneless variety!  (I know.  Hey, I’m learning.)  But there are some meat dishes that looked easier, and a TON of vegetarian entrees and side dishes that I’m dying to make.  Last week, I decided to go for peanut chicken and fried plantains.

The peanut chicken was actually really, really easy.  You marinate the chicken in some garlic and spices, then fry it in a pan with a bunch of onions.

After the chicken is just cooked, the peanut sauce — which is really just a mixture of peanut butter and some water to thin it out — gets added along with some tomatoes.

The real fun was making fried plantains.  I LOVE plantains but rarely get a chance to eat them.  (For those who may not have had them, plantains look like large bananas, but they aren’t as soft or sweet.  They’re usually cooked — grilled, boiled, fried, whatever — before serving.)  If only I had realized sooner how incredibly easy it is to make fried plantains at home!  Step 1?  Buy some plantains.  Step 2?  Fry them.  Seriously.  That was it.  And they were YUM YUM delicious.

We threw some rice in the rice cooker to serve with the peanut chicken and were ready to eat.  This was seriously one of the best meals I’ve made in a long time — the peanut chicken was warm and tasty, and the fried plantains were like the cherry on top.   I really do love fried plantains.  Mmm.