Empanadas de Platano con leche (Sweet Plantain empanadas)
This is my favorite dessert Salvadoreño and if your're a plantain lover these might become your favorite!
What are empanadas de platano?
Empanadas the platano are one of the top two desserts for me from El Salvador. It's made with ripped sweet plantain, leche poleada (sweet milk pudding?) and rolled in ligh sugar. You cook the plantain and smash it down to turn it into the "dough," and then you stuff it with the sweet milk pudding and fry it until golden brown. The best time to have them in my opinion is freshly fried. I've always eaten them but never made them myself so i had to ask my mom to teach me her ways. She and my grandma used to sell them in front of their house when my mom was in her late teens. Below are the ingredients and step by step instructions.
How to make emapanadas de platano?
Ingredients: 25-30 empanadas depending on the size
10-11 plantains
1 cinnamon stick
2/4 tsp vanilla
3 cups of whole milk
1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup rice flour
Wash and clean the plantains with water and a new sponge.
With the rind/peel on cut off both ends of the plantain and then into three pieces.
Place a large pot with enough water to cover the plantains at medium-high heat. Add 1/4 tsp of vanilla and 1/2 stick of cinamon.
Once the water is hot, place the plantain pieces in the water. Cook them until you can easily stick a fork or until you see the plaintain popping out of the rind/peel.
Take them off the heat, drain the water and remove the rind/peel. Place the peeled plantain in a large container.
Smash the plantain until smooth. This can be done by hand, hand mixer or stand mixer. Once it's smashed to desired consistency place it in it's final container and let it cool.
Place a pot on the stove at medium heat and add in 2 1/2 cups of whole milk, 1/2 cinamon stick, 1/4 tsp vanilla and 1/4 cups of sugar. Adjust the sugar to taste. Whisk it all and set the heat on low-medium heat.
In a different container dissolve the 1/2 cup of rice flour and the 1/2 cup of milk left over.
Once the milk in the pot starts to boil turn down the heat to LOW and incorporate the rice flour mixture as you whisk the milk. This will cause the milk to thicken up. Once you see the consitency desired, turn off the heat and continue whisking for about 2 minutes. Remove the cinamon stick from the mixture and let it cool for about 10-15 minutes.
Once the plantain and poleada (milk pudding) is cooled, place a frying pan on medium heat with enough vegetable oil to cover the empanadas half way.
Now we assemble! Add some oil to your hands so tha the smashed plantain does not stick to your hands. Grab about 2 oz of the smashed platain and shape it into a small tortilla and add about 1/2 to 1 tbsp of the poleada (milk pudding). Close up the tortilla in a shape of an empanada and with your hands shape it into an oval.
Once the oil is hot, add in your empanada. Fry it until golden brown on both sides, which is about 1-2 minutes on each side.
Remove from the frying pan and place it on a rack or napkin to rest for 5 minutes before serving. You can sprinkle sugar or roll it in sugar before serving (Optional). With or without sugar is still delicous.
