Another plantain empanada recipe to try !

This Salvadorean 🇸🇻 recipe is one of my favourite ways to have plantain ! They have a sweet and creamy milk custard filling spiced with cinnamon and vainilla. They are really easy to make and are perfect for dessert or a sweet mid afternoon snack.

If you have never made sweet plantain empanadas you are really missing out! Instead of using the traditional flaky dough, this recipe uses ripe plantains.

If you have never cooked with plantains before, they are the same species as a banana but a completely different cultivar and flavour! They are larger, with thicker skins and they have a more starchy texture and less sweet flavour. Also they need to be cooked before consuming as otherwise the flavour is not very nice.

When choosing a plantain you need to be mindful of the colour as it indicates ripeness, the greener the more savoury it will be and thus better for savoury fillings such as cheese. The more yellow, the more ripe and sweet.

In this case it is better to use the yellow ripe ones as it is a sweet recipe.

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🌱Vegetarian (Vegan option)

🌾GF

🍽️ 4 empanadas

Ingredients

🍌For the plantain empanada

• 2 ripe plantain

• 50g cornstarch (US) / cornflour (UK)

• 20g icing sugar

• Oil for cooking

🥛For the milk custard

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 215g (vegan) milk

• 25g caster sugar

• 35g cornstarch

• 1 tbsp vainilla

Method

• Peel and cut your plantain into big pieces

• Add peeled plantain to a pot, cover with water and boil for 10 minutes until soft

• Drain the water, and mash plantain with a fork. Add the cornflour, icing sugar and mix well. Let it rest for 20 min at room temperature

• Meanwhile make the milk custard. First take 60ml of the milk and dissolve the cornstarch. Add the rest of the milk, sugar, vainilla and cinnamon stick to a pot and bringing to a boil. Remove the cinnamon and pour the rest of the milk with the cornstarch and stir non stop until the mix thickens (takes about 3-5min). Remove from heat and leave it to cool for 5 min

• Form 4 balls with the plantain dough. Transfer a ball to cling film, cover it  and press down each ball with a dish to make a disc. Add 1 tbsp of the milk custard in the middle, fold it in half and press to seal with your fingers, so the custard is sealed. You can also use a fork to press the edges of the empanada and help it seal

• Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry your empanadas until golden on both sides. Alternatively you can air fry them our bake them in the oven. Dust with icing sugar before serving and enjoy !

FAQS and Tips

• I prefer to use ripe plantains rather than green plantains for this recipe as they add more sweetness that works amazing with the milk custard