Turkey fried plantain platter

Turkey fried plantain platter

Jump to Recipe

Here’s how to make a turkey fried plantain platter

In keeping with the Thanksgiving holiday spirit, I decided to create a turkey fried plantain platter. I’d seen some platters with vegetables, others with cheese and crackers, and thought, why not create one with one of my favorite foods, plantains. A turkey plantain platter also presented an opportunity to highlight a food used as a creative alternative to turkey for non meat eaters. 

So I ventured out to two of my favorite fresh produce spot in the Bay Area to get as many plantains as I needed for this project. I visited El Mercadito and Mi Rancho, both in Redwood City. From both stores, purchased a total 15 of their ripest plantains. The strategy was to cut some in long slices for the tail. I would need medium angled slices for the shorter feathers and a few circle ones for the inner feathers. So I needed a variety of plantains to carry out this project.

The presentation pieces

This turkey project would be a large one, and I wanted to make sure that I had a large surface area to plate the plantains. I realized that I would need a larger board than I owned. So I went on to Home Goods and found a giant board. If I couldn’t find the board, I was determined to use a large cardboard/ foam board, covered with foil, saran wrap or grease proof paper. I also needed to make sure that I had a bowl with two sections to emulate a turkey’s head and stomach. Thank goodness, I had purchased one last year from Uncommon Goods.

To fry the plantains, I bought a bottle of vegetable oil for a saucepan that was deep enough for deep-frying. It would also help me control the shading of the plantains better. Since they were above the base of the pan the heat from oil is browns the plantain, instead of the heat from the bottom of the pan.

For the dips, I used guacamole and Dominican homemade cheese dip. I made my famous guacamole recipe and excluded tomato, as I wanted to keep the vivid green guac color. The cheese dip is one of my go tos, and a compliment generator. When I hosted regular dinner parties, it would always be part of my charcuterie board as this dip that goes with everything. Please see below for the cheese spread recipe.

Important tips for your turkey fried plantain platter

• Purchase your ripe plantains ahead of time to make sure that they will be very ripe when you need to use them
• Place them in a brown paper bag to speed up the ripening process
• After removing plantains from pan, drain on a paper towel to get rid of the oil
• Resist eating all the plantains before serving. You’ll feel a strong need to do so 🙂