As a Puerto Rican, we ate lots of plantains growing up.
My favorite were the maduros which were yellow and very ripe even to the point of having a black skin. These were the sweet ones as opposed to the green plantains which were not sweet at all and were usually served with a garlic dip. Â But the maduros ~ well, we just fried them up and ate the slices. Simple and delicious!
It’s interesting that almost every time I go to the grocery store and see the very ripe plantains they bring the price down because they assume (incorrectly) that the plantain is too ripe. Â So it’s a bonus to pick up these delicious maduros.
Now, being one to have a sweet tooth, I searched for a recipe to incorporate these plantains into a meal. Â And, right on my bookshelf I found a book called Puerto Rican Cookery that had been given to me as a gift many years ago. It had a recipe for plantain balls but I decided to adapt it to suit my taste.
Besides the plantains, the rest of the ingredients are quite simple: Â ground beef, cheese and seasonings.
The plantains are boiled in water until they look like they are going to pop out. Â Then they’re taken out to cool. Â Once cooled, I peeled them and added them to a bowl with butter and arrowroot starch. Â Then I mashed them up.
The ground beef is put in a skillet with the seasonings and cooked through. Â This will be used to fill the plantain balls along with the shredded cheese.
I added a little arrowroot powder to my hands before I picked up some of the plantain mixture to fill it. Â It needs to be flattened so it can be filled with the ingredients.
The plantain balls will come out looking like this …
And once baked they’ll look like this …
These Beef & Cheese Filled Plantain Balls are paleo … deliciously paleo. Â And, if you choose, you can also fry them instead of baking them but I prefer them baked.
I served my plantain balls with Crispy Baked Eggplant Dippers and sliced tomatoes.
Ready to try this simple and tasty recipe?
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For additional paleo recipes, click here.
