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Tabasco's lowland mercado botana: ripe plantain masa wrapped around dry beef picadillo, sealed by hand, and fried in manteca de cerdo until the shell turns crisp and the center stays sweet.
Tabasco's Chontalpa lowlands, from Villahermosa's Mercado José María Pino Suárez out toward Cunduacán and Comalcalco, are where these plátanos rellenos make sense. The heat grows the plátano macho heavy and sweet. The market sells them yellow with black patches, ready for the pot, next to little piles of chile amashito for the salsa that wakes them up.
This is not dessert. It is a botana built on contrast: sweet plantain outside, dry savory picadillo inside, a small sting of amashito salsa at the table. The chile stays in the salsa, not in the filling. Don't chop it into the meat and call that Tabasco. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
The technique belongs to women who know how to make food travel from kitchen to table without falling apart. You simmer the plantain in its skin, mash it hot, stiffen it with just enough masa harina, fill it with picadillo cooked until no liquid remains, then fry it in manteca de cerdo. If the filling is wet, it leaks. If the plantain is green, it cracks. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.
Serve them on brown Tabasco clay, with the salsa in a molcajete and lime halves on the table. Cada estado, su propia cocina. This one tastes like the humid lowlands, sweet first, salty second, chile last.
Plantains reached Mexico through Spanish Atlantic and Caribbean trade after the 16th century, and they rooted most deeply in humid Gulf and Maya south states where banana cultivation became daily cooking, not a novelty. Picadillo came from colonial minced-meat stews and became local as cooks added New World tomato, regional fats, olives, raisins, and the dry frying needed for portable market food. In Tabasco, chile amashito, a tiny wild chile endemic to the state, belongs at the table in crushed salsas; it seasons the bite, not the picadillo inside the plantain.
Quantity
4 large
yellow skins heavy with black patches
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for the plantain water
Quantity
1/3 cup, plus 2 tablespoons more if needed
Quantity
1 teaspoon
divided
Quantity
5
3 for picadillo, 2 for salsa
Quantity
8 to 12
for the salsa
Quantity
1
unpeeled, for the salsa
Quantity
1 tablespoon
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
2 tablespoons
if needed for the salsa
Quantity
3 tablespoons
for the picadillo
Quantity
1 pound
85 percent lean
Quantity
1 small
finely chopped
Quantity
3
minced
Quantity
1 small
peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
Quantity
1/4 cup
chopped if large
Quantity
1/4 cup
chopped
Quantity
1 tablespoon
rinsed and chopped
Quantity
1 teaspoon
crushed
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
Quantity
1
Quantity
1/2 cup
Quantity
2 to 3 cups
for frying
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| ripe plátanos machosyellow skins heavy with black patches | 4 large |
| fine sea saltfor the plantain water | 1 tablespoon |
| masa harina | 1/3 cup, plus 2 tablespoons more if needed |
| fine sea saltdivided | 1 teaspoon |
| ripe Roma tomatoes3 for picadillo, 2 for salsa | 5 |
| fresh chile amashitofor the salsa | 8 to 12 |
| garlic cloveunpeeled, for the salsa | 1 |
| fresh lime juice | 1 tablespoon |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
| water (optional)if needed for the salsa | 2 tablespoons |
| manteca de cerdofor the picadillo | 3 tablespoons |
| ground beef85 percent lean | 1 pound |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1 small |
| garlic clovesminced | 3 |
| white potatopeeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice | 1 small |
| raisinschopped if large | 1/4 cup |
| pimiento-stuffed green manzanilla oliveschopped | 1/4 cup |
| capersrinsed and chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| dried Mexican oreganocrushed | 1 teaspoon |
| ground allspice | 1/4 teaspoon |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| beef broth or water | 1/2 cup |
| manteca de cerdofor frying | 2 to 3 cups |
Scrub the plantains and leave the skins on. Place them in a pot, cover with water by two inches, and add the tablespoon of salt. Simmer over medium heat for 18 to 22 minutes, until a knife slides through the skin and the flesh gives easily. The skins may split. That is fine. Green plantains will fight you here, and overripe black collapsing plantains will drink too much fat later.
While the plantains cook, heat a dry comal over medium. Roast all five Roma tomatoes until the skins blister and the flesh softens, turning them often. Roast the unpeeled garlic clove for the salsa until spotted and soft. Toast the chile amashito for only a few seconds, just until fragrant. They are tiny and they burn fast. Set aside three tomatoes for the picadillo and put two tomatoes in a molcajete with the peeled roasted garlic, chile amashito, 1/4 teaspoon of the fine sea salt, and lime juice. Grind to a rough salsa, adding a spoonful or two of water only if it needs to loosen.
Melt 3 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a wide cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook until it smells sharp and sweet, about 30 seconds. Add the ground beef and break it into small pieces. Cook until the meat loses its raw color and the fat starts to show at the edges. Add the diced potato, the three roasted tomatoes finely chopped, raisins, olives, capers, Mexican oregano, allspice, bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, and the broth or water. Cook uncovered, stirring often, until the potato is tender and the mixture is dry enough that a spoon dragged across the pan leaves a clean path. Remove the bay leaf and cool the picadillo completely.
Drain the cooked plantains and let them sit until you can handle them without burning your fingers. Peel them while still warm and remove any hard string from the center. Mash the flesh until smooth. Add the masa harina and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt. Work it with a spoon or your hand until it becomes a soft, shapeable masa. If it sticks like paste and will not hold, add up to 2 more tablespoons masa harina. Do not turn it into corn dough. The flavor must stay plantain.
Divide the plantain masa into 12 equal balls. Lightly wet your palms or press each ball between two pieces of plastic into a 4-inch oval. Put 1 heaping tablespoon of cooled picadillo in the center. Fold the plantain over the filling and pinch the edges closed, shaping it into a plump oval. Seal every crack with your fingers. The seam should disappear. Repeat with the rest and set them on a tray.
Refrigerate the filled plantains for 20 minutes. This short rest firms the plantain so it fries cleanly. No me vengas con atajos. If you drop soft, warm plantain into hot lard, it opens and the picadillo escapes.
Melt 2 to 3 cups manteca de cerdo in a deep heavy skillet or cazuela to a depth of about 1 inch. Heat to 350F. If you do not have a thermometer, a pea-sized bit of plantain should bubble immediately and brown in about 45 seconds. Fry the stuffed plantains in batches, turning gently, 3 to 4 minutes per batch, until the outside is deep golden brown with darker caramelized edges. Do not crowd the pan. Crowding lowers the heat and makes them greasy. La manteca es el sabor, but only when it is hot enough.
Lift the plantains out with a spider or slotted spoon and drain on a rack set over a tray. Serve warm on a Tabasco clay platter with the salsa de chile amashito and lime halves. Break one open so the picadillo shows. The shell should be crisp at the edge, soft under the teeth, and sweet enough to argue with the salty filling. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
1 serving (about 300g)
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