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Marranitas
Plantain balls with pork crackling
Marranitas: Cali's fried balls of mashed green plantain stuffed with crunchy pork crackling
Breakfast stalls along Cali's busy streets and the bakeries of the Valle del Cauca fry marranitas all morning: green plantain, half-fried, pounded while hot and shaped around a nugget of crunchy pork chicharrón, then fried again until crisp and golden. The name means 'little piglets', after the pork inside. The outside shatters, the plantain layer is dense and starchy and the crackling gives a salty, porky crunch in the middle. Eat them hot with a mug of coffee or hot chocolate, or as a snack with ají and hogao for dipping. The plantains must be truly green and hard; yellowing ones turn sweet and sticky and won't hold a crisp shell. Chef's tip: pound the plantain the moment it comes out of the first fry, using a little warm salted water on your hands; once it cools it stiffens and cracks when you shape it.
- Total time
- 70 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the chicharrón
- 14 oz pork belly, skin oncut into 2 cm strips
- 1 ¾ cups water
- 2 tsp salt
For the plantain
- 4 green plantainshard and fully green
- 4 ¼ cups sunflower oilfor frying
To serve
- ¾ cup ají picante (optional)
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Put 14 oz pork belly, skin on, 1 ¾ cups water and 1 tsp salt in a frying pan. Boil over a medium-high heat for 25–30 minutes, until the water has evaporated, then keep frying in the rendered fat for 10–15 minutes, until the skin is crunchy and the meat golden (well over 160°F).
40 minStep 2: Drain the chicharrón on kitchen paper, let it cool slightly and chop into 1 cm pieces.
5 minStep 3: Cut the ends off 4 green plantains, slit the skins lengthways and peel them. Cut into 5 cm chunks.
5 minStep 4: Heat 4 ¼ cups sunflower oil in a deep pan to 300°F. Fry the plantain chunks for 8–10 minutes, until soft enough for a knife to slide in easily but not browned. Drain.
10 minStep 6: With damp hands, flatten each ball in your palm, put a spoonful of chicharrón in the centre and close the plantain around it into a ball, pressing out any cracks.
10 minStep 7: Heat the oil to 350°F. Fry the marranitas in batches for 4–5 minutes, turning, until deep golden and crisp all over. Drain and serve hot with ¾ cup ají picante.
10 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- Protein
- 10 g
- Carbs
- 48 g
- Fat
- 18 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does marranitas take?
- About 70 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
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