Plate 08 of 10

Banan Peze avec Pikliz

Name: Banan Peze avec Pikliz
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 18 to 20 discs, 6 side portions
Cuisine: Haiti
Ingredients: 1.2 kg Unripened green plantains (bannann vèt), rock-hard with dark green skins; 500 ml Cold filtered water; 4 cloves Fresh garlic, crushed flat; 15 g Fine sea salt, dissolved into the water; 1 L High-smoke-point oil or lard; 480 ml Spicy Haitian pikliz

Fried twice, and the one-second dip between the two fries is the whole trick. Salted garlic water seasons the interior by capillary draw and leaves a film on the surface; at 190 °C that film flashes to steam and blows microscopic blisters into a crust that shatters without absorbing oil.

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 15 min
Serves: 18 to 20 discs, 6 side portions
Difficulty: Easy

Researched · Kitchen testing pending

A white plate of flattened golden fried plantain discs with jagged edges, topped with a mound of shredded white cabbage and red pepper slaw, on a weathered green wooden table.

In Haiti no platter of griot, tassot or fried fish is complete without banan peze. Unlike sweet yellow plantains, it is made exclusively from unripened, rock-hard bannann vèt.

The plantains are sliced into thick rounds, soaked in salted garlic water, and fried gently until tender to the centre. Each piece is then smashed flat in a hinged wooden pezwa, dipped back into the garlic water for a heartbeat, and dropped into screaming-hot oil.

The exterior starches flash into a shatteringly crisp golden crust while the inside stays tender and fluffy — and then it is crowned with cold, fiery pikliz.

Ingredients

The plantains
1.2 kgUnripened green plantains (bannann vèt), rock-hard with dark green skins
The garlic salmuera
500 mlCold filtered water
4 clovesFresh garlic, crushed flat
15 gFine sea salt, dissolved into the water
To fry and serve
1 LHigh-smoke-point oil or lard
480 mlSpicy Haitian pikliz

Green, and rock hard

Yellow or spotted plantains make sweet, limp, greasy fritters. Only unripened fruit has the raw un-gelatinised amylose the technique depends on.

Two temperatures, two jobs

The first fry at 160 °C gelatinises the interior starches so the dense tissue turns soft and pliable. The second at 190 °C does nothing to the inside — it is entirely about the crust.

Smash while steaming

Hot rounds flatten into broad discs with thin jagged borders. Left to cool first they shatter into crumbs under the press.

One second in the water

Long enough to leave a film and season the inside, short enough not to waterlog. Leave them submerged and the oil spits violently and the crust never forms.

The pikliz is the point

Cold vinegar-cured cabbage against hot starchy plantain. Without it this is a side dish; with it, it is the supreme Caribbean snack.

Passive time, counted separately

The cut rounds soak in the garlic water 15 minutes before the first fry. That sits outside the times quoted above.

The five tastes on this plate

Salt is the garlic salmuera drawn into the porous starch between fries. Fat is the frying oil crisping the exterior matrix. Acid is entirely the cold vinegar pikliz. Heat is garlic from the soak and Scotch bonnet from the slaw. Umami is caramelised plantain starch and toasted garlic.

Equipment

Wide bowl, for the salmuera
12 in cast-iron skillet or deep fryer with an oil thermometer
Plantain press (pezwa), tortilla press, or a flat-bottomed mug
Tongs, spider skimmer and a wire rack

Traditionally a cast-aluminium chaudron with a hinged wooden pezwa. A 12-inch cast-iron skillet works in a modern kitchen, and a tortilla press, a small cutting board or the flat bottom of a heavy mug does the smashing perfectly well.

Method

Make the garlic salmuera3 min
Whisk the 500 ml cold water with the crushed garlic and 15 g salt until the salt has fully dissolved.
Whisk 500 ml cold water with the crushed garlic and 15 g salt until the salt dissolves completely.
Peel and cut10 min
Trim the ends, slit the thick green peel lengthwise in three places with a knife tip, and pull the skin away with your thumb.
Slice crosswise into thick 3 cm rounds and submerge in the garlic water 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
Trim the green plantains, slit each peel lengthwise in three places and remove it. Cut into 3 cm rounds; soak in the garlic water 15 minutes, then drain and pat dry.
First fry, at 160 °C8 min
Heat the oil to 160 °C and fry the rounds in batches 4 to 5 minutes, turning, until a knife glides into the centre with no resistance.
They should still be pale yellow with no browning at all. Onto a tray.
Heat oil to 160 °C. Fry in batches for 4–5 minutes, turning, until a knife enters the centre easily. Keep the rounds pale yellow without browning; transfer to a tray.
Smash7 min
While each round is still steaming hot, set it in the oiled press — or between two sheets of parchment — and press firmly into a disc 8 mm thick with thin jagged edges.
While still steaming hot, flatten each round in an oiled press or between parchment sheets to an 8 mm disc with thin, irregular edges.
Dip and flash fry7 min
Raise the oil to 190 °C. With tongs, dip each disc into the salmuera for strictly 1 second — it will hiss — and lower it straight into the oil.
Fry 90 to 120 seconds a side until the edges are blistered, golden-brown and shatteringly crisp.
Raise oil to 190 °C. Using tongs, dip each disc in salmuera for strictly 1 second and lower into the oil; expect hissing. Fry 90–120 seconds per side until blistered, golden-brown and crisp.
Drain and serve
Lift out with a spider onto a wire rack for a minute, salt if you like, and serve piping hot crowned with cold pikliz.
Drain on a wire rack for 1 minute, add salt if desired, and serve piping hot with cold pikliz on top.
07
Sensory cues of doneness
- Visual: a golden-yellow disc with jagged paper-thin browned edges and a pale tender centre.
- Auditory: a roaring sizzle as the dipped disc hits the oil, and a glass-like crunch when bitten.
- Olfactory: toasted plantain starch, garlic salmuera steam, clean hot oil and cane vinegar.
Look for golden-yellow discs with thin browned edges and pale, tender centres. The crust should crunch sharply, with aromas of toasted plantain, garlic and vinegar.

Storing it

The first fry and the smashing can be done up to 4 hours ahead. Keep the discs covered at room temperature and do the dip and second fry just before serving.

Troubleshooting

Sweet, limp, greasy discs.: Ripe plantains were used. They must be rock-hard and green.
They crumble under the press.: They cooled before smashing. Press them while steaming hot.
Violent spattering and a soft crust.: They sat in the salmuera. One second only.

Substitutions

One-to-one global substitutions, with the technique adjustment each one requires.

Ingredient substitutions

Ingredient	Replace with	Culinary impact and technique adjustment
Green plantains	No substitute	Only unripened green fruit has the structural starch this needs
Pezwa press	A flat-bottomed mug, or a heavy wooden board	A purely mechanical substitute — it works identically
Pikliz	Spicy escabeche, or a jalapeño slaw	Similar acidic heat, if not the same one

Scaling

Half, for 2 to 3 portions

Halve everything in an 8-inch skillet.

Double, for 12 portions

Double everything, frying in batches of six so the oil holds 190 °C.

What to serve it with

Griot de porc
More pikliz, cold from the jar
Tassot de cabrit
A cold Prestige, or fresh passion fruit juice

Questions

What if I have no pezwa?

The flat bottom of a heavy mug, a small wooden board, or a tortilla press lined with plastic wrap all work.

Can they be made ahead?

Do the first fry and the smashing up to 4 hours ahead, then dip and do the second fry right before serving.

Why the salt-water dip?

The water flash-vaporises in the hot oil into microscopic crisp bubbles, and seasons the interior on the way.