This recipe merges the sweetness of ripe fried plantains with the saltiness of scrambled eggs, meat, and vegetables. It is very customizable. Pick your meats and vegetables—or leave them out altogether (my son prefers the latter). Though a breakfast scramble, it also works well for lunch or dinner. It is great on its own or paired with a side of steamed rice.
2-4 servings
- Remove the peels from the plantains.
- Cut plantains at a diagonal angle, creating quarter-inch-thick, oval-shaped slices. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a cast-iron or frying pan over high heat until hot, roughly 3 minutes.
- Gently drop plantain slices into the hot oil, and reduce to medium-high heat.
- When the plantain slices are dark golden brown on one side, flip them. Cook until a fork, when inserted, meets soft, gooey insides.
- Pour the extra oil off the plantain slices, reserving for later, and set them aside.
- Whisk eggs. Set aside.
- Heat a tablespoon of leftover oil from plantains in an electric skillet or frying pan. Over medium-high heat, add fried plantain slices, onions, vegetables, meat, and whisked eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Stir.
- Reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat to low and cook until onions and vegetables reach desired tenderness, and meat and eggs are cooked through, roughly 3 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Jessica Kehinde Ngo
Jessica Kehinde Ngo is a writer whose work addresses food, twinship, intercultural and interracial relationships, and motherhood. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Harvard Review Online, Entropy, Artillery, Hippocampus Books and The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and sons and teaches writing and food literature.