Chef Lupita
Arroz Blanco Tabasqueno con Platano
Tabasco's everyday white rice, cooked loose and clean with onion and garlic, then crowned with sweet fried ripe plantain from the lowland kitchen.
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Tabasco Plantains Roasted in Embers (Al Rescoldo)
Created by
Tabasco's Chontal lowland plantains, roasted whole in embers until the peel goes black and the flesh turns sweet, dense, and spoon-soft, with chile amashito salt at the table.
Side Dishes
Mexican
BBQ
Outdoor Dining
Comfort Food
10 min
Active Time
30 min cook•40 min total
Yield6 servings
Tabasco, the Chontal lowlands, the wet heat between cacao trees, banana plants, and river mud. This is where plátano macho maduro belongs, not as a garnish, not as a sweet trick on a plate, but as food cooked directly in the rescoldo, the bed of hot embers left after the fire has done its larger work.
The technique is older than any oven in the house. Women in Tabasco perfected this because it uses what the kitchen already has: the cooking fire, the ash, the banana leaf, the fruit turning black and sweet on the counter. You bury the whole plantain with its peel on. No oil. No pan. The skin protects the flesh while the heat moves slowly through it, and when you split it open the inside should look like warm custard, yellow-gold and heavy with sugar.
The Tabasco note at the table is chile amashito, small, green, sharp, and serious. Crush it with salt and a little lime, then use it with discipline. This dish is sweet, not hot for the sake of being hot. Cada estado, su propia cocina. A Veracruz cook may serve plantains another way, a Yucatecan cook another, but this lowland version belongs to the fire and the ember. Así se hace y punto.
Plantains arrived in New Spain through Spanish and Portuguese colonial trade routes in the 16th century and took quickly to the humid Gulf and Caribbean lowlands, including Tabasco. Cooking in ashes or embers, called rescoldo, has deep Indigenous roots across Mesoamerica and remained practical in rural kitchens because it needs no metal pan, only a managed fire. In Tabasco, the technique sits naturally beside Chontal Maya foodways built around cacao, river fish, banana leaves, maize, and the small chile amashito.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
very ripe plátanos machos
Quantity
6
skins yellow with many black spots but not leaking
fresh banana leaf squares
Quantity
6 squares, about 10 inches each
wiped clean and passed briefly over heat to soften
coarse sea salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon
fresh chile amashito
Quantity
4 to 6
stems removed
limes
Quantity
2
halved
crema de rancho (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
queso fresco (optional)
Quantity
1/4 cup
crumbled
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| very ripe plátanos machosskins yellow with many black spots but not leaking | 6 |
| fresh banana leaf squareswiped clean and passed briefly over heat to soften | 6 squares, about 10 inches each |
| coarse sea salt | 1 tablespoon |
| fresh chile amashitostems removed | 4 to 6 |
| limeshalved | 2 |
| crema de rancho (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| queso fresco (optional)crumbled | 1/4 cup |
Equipment Needed
- •Wood or charcoal fire with a stable bed of embers
- •Long metal tongs
- •Banana leaves
- •Volcanic stone molcajete for chile amashito salt
- •Small clay platter or lowland jícara for serving
Instructions
- 1
Choose the plantains
Use plátanos machos that are mostly black with yellow showing through, soft when pressed, but not split or fermenting. Green plantains will roast, yes, but they will be starchy and tight. This dish needs ripe fruit. The sugar is the point.
- 2
Prepare the fire
Build a wood or charcoal fire and let it burn down until you have a deep bed of glowing embers with a layer of pale ash. You are not grilling over flame. Flame burns the peel before the center softens. Embers cook steadily, the way a Tabasco kitchen fire does after the main pot has already come off.
- 3
Wrap in leaf
Pass each banana leaf square quickly over the edge of the fire or a hot comal until it turns glossy and flexible. Lay one whole unpeeled plantain on each square and wrap loosely, folding the ends under. The leaf keeps ash out of the split peel and gives the fruit that green lowland aroma. Do not peel the plantain. The peel is the cooking vessel.
If you cannot find fresh banana leaf, roast the plantains directly in their skins and brush off the ash before serving. That is a compromise, not an upgrade. The leaf matters in Tabasco. - 4
Bury in embers
Nestle the wrapped plantains into the embers and cover them lightly with more ash and coals. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, turning once with tongs halfway through. The leaf will darken and char, the peel underneath will blacken, and the plantain should feel heavy and soft from end to end when pressed gently with tongs.
- 5
Make chile salt
While the plantains roast, crush the chile amashito with the coarse sea salt in a molcajete until the chile breaks into the salt. Squeeze in a little lime juice and grind just enough to make a rough, wet salt. Do not turn it into salsa. You want small hits of chile against the sweetness, not a wet sauce drowning the fruit.
- 6
Rest and split
Lift the plantains out of the embers and let them sit for 5 minutes. Brush away loose ash from the banana leaf before opening. Split each plantain lengthwise through the blackened peel and open it like a canoe. The flesh should be deep yellow, glossy, and spoon-soft. If the center is still firm, wrap it again and return it to the embers for 5 to 8 minutes.
- 7
Serve from leaf
Serve the plantains warm in the opened banana leaves, with chile amashito salt, lime halves, and, if your table wants it, a small spoon of crema de rancho or a little crumbled queso fresco. Do not pile on sugar. The plantain already brought its own sweetness. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •Buy plantains from a mercado vendor who sells them at different stages. Ask for plátano macho maduro para asar, ripe plantain for roasting. If the vendor only has green ones, wait. The market decides the recipe, not your schedule.
- •Chile amashito is a Tabasco chile, small and usually green, with a clean bite. If you cannot find it, use fresh chile piquín or chile chiltepín as a compromise. Do not use jalapeño here. It tastes like another state.
- •This dish is not fried plantains. No oil, no butter, no syrup. The ember does the work, and the peel holds the fruit together while the starches turn soft and sweet.
- •If you are cooking indoors, use a covered charcoal grill or a fireplace with food-safe hardwood embers. Do not cook in embers from treated wood, lighter-fluid-soaked charcoal, or anything painted. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Advance Preparation
- •The chile amashito salt can be made 2 hours ahead and held covered at room temperature. Add the lime just before serving so it stays bright.
- •The plantains should be roasted close to serving time. They hold for 20 minutes wrapped in banana leaf near the fire, but after that the texture starts to collapse.
- •Banana leaves can be cleaned, softened over heat, and stacked under a damp towel earlier the same day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
Calories
280 calories
Total Fat
3 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
5 mg
Sodium
1200 mg
Total Carbohydrates
65 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
31 g
Protein
4 g
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