Fried Sweet Plantains with Creamy Sage Cheese Sauce

Fried, sweet plantains are a quick and easy snack or side dish to make. Plus, they are super delicious! In this recipe, I fried the plantains, and then sprinkled kosher salt, hot sauce, and a creamy sage "cheese" sauce over them. However, plantains are great fried with just a little sea salt sprinkled on them.  No need to add any sweetener, since they are naturally sweet! 

 For the sauce, I experimented with with cheeses from The Non-Dairy Formulary cookbook (http://thegentlechef.com/NonDairyFormularyGallery.php). Check it out if you haven't yet! I  revised one of the recipes to use ingredients I had in my pantry and to include sage, since I had a ton of sage in my garden. The sage actually works really well in the sauce and tastes wonderful with the plantains.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 - 10  minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Plantains:

• 1 ripe plantain
• vegetable oil to coat pan
• sea salt or kosher salt to taste
• hot sauce to taste

Sage Cheese Sauce:

• 1 cup unsweetened soy or almond milk
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/8 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
• 1/8 +  teaspoon red chili peppers
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 5 leaves of fresh sage

Garnish:

• chives or scallions, chopped

Plantains Instructions:

1) Pick out a ripe plantain.  A ripe plantain should have black spots and feel soft to the touch.  

2) Peel the plantain by making a long slice in the skin, and then peeling the skin off.  Then, cut the plantain on the bias into 1/4 - 1/2 inch diagonal slices.

3) Put enough oil in pan to form a thin coat over the entire pan. Heat the oil on medium/high heat until hot.  Add plantains.  Flip each plantain over when they have browned.  Fry each plantain only once on each side.

4) Remove plantains from oil and let drain on a paper towel for a minute or two.

5) Place the plantains on a plate, and sprinkle sea salt over them.  Then, drizzle some hot sauce and creamy sage cheese sauce over them. Finish with chopped chives or scallions. If you want to keep it simple, just add the sea salt and serve!

Sage Cheese Sauce Instructions:

1) Process ALL the ingredients in a blender until smooth.

2) Transfer the mixture to a medium saucepan and cook on low/medium heat, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula.

3) Continue cooking and stirring the mixture until it is thick and bubbly. Use the spatula to scrape the sides of the pot if the mixture begins to stick.  Serve WARM. (Once cooled, the mixture with thicken further and get clumpy.)