Ripe Plantain in tomato sauce

This recipe is inspired by the one in Cooking with Kurma , a book which a friend had lent me some time ago. I do have to get around to buying the book.

I did not get a chance to copy the recipe so I can’t compare my version to his, but I pretty much like mine. Plantain is of those delicious and easily available foods in the Caribbean and one can never have enough ways to prepare ripe plantains. I do find that the chefs from the Hare Krishna movement (including Yamuna Devi) are very inspiring when it comes to vegetarian food, especially Indian influenced vegetarian.

Ingredients- 6 large ripe plantains
Oil for deep frying

Peel plantains and slice into 1 inch rounds. Fry in batches in hot oil turning until all sides are light to medium brown, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Ingredients-Tomato sauce

2 tablespoon olive oil or butter
½ medium onion, chopped or minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
(I usually put onion, garlic and ginger together in the food chopper and finely chop)
1 tablespoon ginger minced)
Hot pepper to taste
1 tbs garam masala
½ tsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp kosher salt ( or less if using canned tomatoes)
1 ½ cups whole canned tomatoes, pureed or 5 whole vine ripened tomatoes, pureed
½ cup coconut milk

To finish:
chopped fresh thai basil, cilantro or mint leaves for garnish (optional)
coconut flakes for garnish (optional)

Method
Heat oil or butter in a deep pot, add onion, garlic, ginger and hot pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in garam masala, and sugar. Add salt if using and stir one minute.

Add tomatoes and cook about 5 minutes. Add coconut milk Cook on low 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add friend plantains rounds. Cook on low 2 minutes. Turn off heat and allow the plantains to absorb the sauce at least 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with herbs and coconut flakes. Serves 6.

Hint: I made double the sauce and froze half, for use later. The sauce can also be used to make a main dish using a drained can of chickpeas or fried paneer cubes instead of plantains.