Plantain Three Ways: Fried, Baked & Boiled

Plantain is a staple across West Africa and the Caribbean, and how ripe it is changes everything. Green plantain is starchy and savoury; yellow-with-black-spots is sweet and caramelises beautifully; fully black is soft and best for baking or boli. Here are three foolproof ways to cook it.

**1. Fried (Dodo)** Use ripe (yellow with black spots) plantain. Peel and slice diagonally into 1cm pieces. Heat vegetable oil to medium-high and fry in batches until golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes a side. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with a little salt. Perfect alongside jollof rice, beans or eggs.

**2. Baked (the healthier dodo)** Heat your oven to 200°C. Toss sliced ripe plantain in a teaspoon of oil and a pinch of salt, spread on a lined tray in a single layer, and bake for 20–25 minutes, flipping halfway, until caramelised at the edges. All the sweetness, far less oil.

**3. Boiled** Use green or just-turning plantain. Peel, cut into chunks and boil in lightly salted water for 15–20 minutes until tender. Boiled plantain is a brilliant base for garden egg sauce, pepper stew or simply with a drizzle of palm oil and greens.

**Tip:** to peel a green plantain easily, top and tail it, score the skin lengthways in two or three places, then ease the skin off in sections. A ripe plantain peels almost like a banana.