I had been thinking about trying to make this dish for a few days because I had some overripe plantain but we seemed to be eating other sweet things, at home, like scones, scones and more scones, so I didn’t get around to it. Then the other morning I read about Rihanna’s debut on the Sunday Times Rich List of musicians and I felt proud of her achievements being a fellow black woman from the Caribbean. The point is, I thought if this woman can grind for her 468 million pound net worth, the least I could do was make myself some plantain fritters. The connection is a stretch, but inspiration comes from interesting places.
Plantain Fritters with bacon & rum caramel sauce 
Plantain Fritters with bacon & rum caramel sauce 
Plantain Fritters with bacon & rum caramel sauce
I really had set out to make plantain beignets similar to the ones I had from Café du Monde in New Orleans but turns out they use yeast and in these uncertain times of lockdown we have to work with what we have, and I don’t have any yeast. I don’t feel like the word “fritters” do these little light balls of fluffy deliciousness justice. This isn’t just any fritter, it is a sincerely moreish plantain fritter that you have to try (said in an M&S ad voice). I normally make this caramel with more salt but since we have bacon on the dish I wanted it to be perfectly balanced, but if you want a salted caramel sauce for another recipe just add more salt.
I forgot to mention how super quick these plantain fritters are to make, 15 seconds or so on each side (I didn’t use a timer but you want them golden brown), they’ll puff up as soon as they hit the oil, (if not your oil isn’t hot enough and you need to start again) and by the time you get a good rotation going, you’ll be spinning and spooning them out so fast. Also I always know when I make something extra special because bae always asks for seconds and for this dish we both couldn’t help but dip another one into the caramel sauce and then the bacon after we had already eaten 2 plates of them. They’re amazing, just saying!
Live, Love, Eat!
April x
Plantain Fritters
Ingredients
Fritters
- ¾ cup cake flour If you don't have cake flour, use 3/4 cup plain flour, remove 1.5 tablespoons and add 1.5 tablespoons of cornflour. Note: 3/4 cup is 90 grams
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 pinch cinnamon generous size pinch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ egg whisked
- ½ plantain or 1/3 cup
- 60 ml milk
- 1 tablespoon oil you will need extra oil for frying
Bacon and rum caramel sauce
- 4 slices bacon
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1.5 tablespoons butter
- 90 ml heavy cream
- 1.5 tablespoon dark rum
- 1 pinch salt
- 40 ml water about 2.5 tablespoons
Instructions
Fritters
- Mix all the dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside.
- In another bowl, mash the plantain and then add all the other wet ingredients.
- Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry flour mix and leave to sit for at least 10 minutes.
- Whilst the mix is resting, preheat your oven to 50°C (120°F) and cook your bacon and make the rum caramel sauce.
- In a pot pour oil until it is 1" deep and heat over medium-high heat
- Then add a teaspoon of batter to the mix, cooking for 15 seconds on each side and place on kitchen towel and in the oven until you are ready to serve.
Bacon and Rum Caramel Sauce
- For the bacon, chop your slices into small pieces and fry over medium-high heat until crispy. Leave in the oven until you are ready to serve.
- For the rum sauce, mix water and white sugar in a pot and put over medium heat.
- Let it cook for 5-10 minutes until the sugar becomes a dark amber colour. Do not stir throughout this process.
- Reduce the heat to low and then whisk in the butter, the mixture will bubble, keep whisking until the bubbles calm down. Then add the cream and whisk for a couple minutes until smooth.
- Remove from the heat and add salt and rum
