Recipe: Plantain Banana Chips

1 Heat the oil bath to 170-180°c (355°F) and prepare a container covered with absorbent paper to receive the chips (when they come out of the bath).

2 Peel the bananas (plantain skin is thick and quite adherent to the flesh), remove the ends and cut them into very thin slices (use a very sharp knife for a clean cut; regularly wipe the blade); do not prepare the slices in advance although plantain oxidizes less quickly than other bananas.

3 Plunge them into the hot oil (not too many at once, as with any deep frying) and watch carefully: they turn golden in a few minutes.

4 Drain them with a spider strainer (a type of metal wire skimmer) and place them on absorbent paper.

5 Salt lightly and season (optional see beginning of recipe) as you would potato chips.

To enhance the modest taste of plantain banana (full of nutritional qualities moreover), you can very lightly sprinkle the chips, after frying, with paprika or colombo powder for example and toss them before serving, but these edible golden pieces are magnificent on a table already bathed in sunshine with acras, glasses of punch and other wonders of Caribbean cuisine, placed on a madras tablecloth.

And then, children who are a bit put off by chili pepper, especially when combined with seafood products (cod acras, avocado féroce, stuffed crabs) will also be part of the party, by replacing the punch with an exotic fruit cocktail or a virgin piña colada with a splash of grenadine for example.

Wait for them to cool slightly, they will become crispier, and since this preparation evokes the Caribbean and Spanish doubloons, your children are very likely to steal these chips to play pirate treasure and who will be Long John Silver, Calico Jack or Captain Haddock, a thousand billion thousand curses!