You Can't Go Wrong with Pickled Jalapeño

This past weekend involved a lot of socializing and truly wonderful food. I had planned on contributing spicy potato cakes, but the plan went awry when they wouldn’t leave the pan. It was like trying to lift chunks of cement. So I made chifles instead.

I can’t think of Ecuador without remembering crispy banana chips. (And my stomach seconds that with a rumble.) Every South American country makes them, and they all have different names for the chips. In Costa Rica they call them, simply, chips de banana. In Ecuador it’s chifles.

My host mother, Ruth, would make them with the help of the maid, Beatriz, while Abuelita sat at the kitchen table and discussed the latest family gossip with them. They used firm, green plantains, sliced thin, and fried them in hot oil. They had years of practice, and I remember them working like a well-oiled machine. At the end of the endeavor, they had a large bowl filled to the brim with chifles. Crispy and salty and still warm from the pan, I could have sat their forever eating chifles and listening to their conversation wash over me.

My chifles weren’t as evenly crispy. I almost never fry things, so I had a quick lesson about oil. Call it trail by fire, if you will. I tested if the oil was ready by dropping a small piece of banana into it. It slowly bubbled at first, so I knew it wasn’t ready. I read that if you put your food in too early, when the oil isn’t hot enough, the food ends up soaking up a lot of oil. Once things got bubbling, I cooked the sliced plantains in batches, never overcrowding the pot. It’s also important to keep the oil clean, so fish out any pieces bits that come apart.

The grocery had only one green plantain and the other was well on its way to being ripe, a nice dark yellow-green. The browner a plantain is, the riper it is. There are recipes that call for a sweeter plantain, but deep frying thin slices require a green plantain. I was most successful with the green plantain, and although I fried the ripe one, it never became totally crispy. My Mexican cookbook says to peel the plantains and soak them in cold, salty water to keep them from discoloring in the fryer. I didn’t bother, because my host mother didn’t do it, and she’s my chifles expert.

The potato cakes took two attempts and two frying pans. After adding flour and fiddling with the pan, the results were very yummy. And I can’t say enough good things about pickled jalapeños. Really! You'd be amazed how they chirk up a recipe. Here’s my favorite use of them so far, but I'm still exploring:

Spicy Potato Cakes
Makes around fifteen

2 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes
1 ½ cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
½ tsp salt
1/3 cups pickled jalapeño slices, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 small bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
All-purpose flour for shaping
Oil for frying (enough to cover the bottom of your frying pan)

Peel the potatoes and cut into large chunks. Cover the potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Cook until tender. Drain, then mash in the pan. It’s OK if the mash is uneven.

Scrape the potatoes into a bowl and stir in the cheese, salt, and jalapeños. Stir in the beaten egg and cilantro and mix thoroughly.

Coat your hands with flour and shape the mixture into small cakes. (This is where I went wrong the first time - I skipped the flour, and the cakes cemented themselves to the pan.) Be generous with the flour.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, and fry the cakes for about 2-3 minutes over medium heat, flipping them until both sides are a golden brown. Drain on a paper towel and serve with another sprinkling of cilantro.

Then be prepared to fall in love with pickled jalapeños, and after you've added them to your morning eggs, drop me a line and tell me the other wonderful dishes you've made with them. I'm always looking for new adventures.

Comments

[Amy O]

I want you to remember this the next time I ignore your advice. Not that I ever would. :) Amy

[Janet]

The potato cakes are gorgeous! After years of soggy potato results, I recently discovered that putting them in a hot pan and leaving them the heck alone will result in brown, crispy potatoes. In other words, don't stir and irritate them until the bottom is brown and then turn them. I must say I discovered this while ignoring my mother's frequent and sage advice "not to try to cook from the living room!" Once in a while ignoring your mother pays off.