These Plantain Cups with Avocado and Shrimp remind me that maybe we should get a slogan, and if we do I have just the perfect one: Keeping spouses happy since 2001!
Some of our favorite comments and emails from our readers tell us how proud they were to surprise their spouse with some of our recipes. Not just wives, but husbands, too. It really does make us proud. And if you read the comments on the Spanish version of this recipe you will notice that there were a lot on the lines of: “Oh, I will surprise my husband/wife with this!”.
The shortest way to our better half’s heart still seems to be good food. Cooking is all about sharing our love, we enjoy watching our family enjoy the food we cook as much as we love eating it ourselves.
And if we’re lucky we might hit the ultimate jackpot: to impress the mother-in-law.
So, in these days when we’ll be having family coming and going, how about trying this quick and delicious dish and see if you can impress your spouse, and who knows, even gain a word of approval from your mother-in-law?
We sure love reading about those stories, so do share.
Aunt Clara
- 4 plantains (or unripe bananas)
- 1 cup oil for frying (soy, peanut or corn)
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic , crushed into paste
- 20 jumbo shrimp , peeled
- 1 teaspoon of salt (or more, to taste)
- 1 large avocado
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 teaspoon of pepper (or more, to taste)
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Pre-heat oven to 200 F [100 ºC].
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Peel the bananas (or plantains). Cut into 6 slices each banana or 7 slices each plantain. Heat oil for frying over medium temperature.
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Fry each slice until they are golden brown all over. Squeeze the slices using a lemon squeezer forming small cups. Once all the cups are formed, fry them again over medium heat until all the light parts have turned golden brown.
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Turn off the oven and leave the cups in the oven while you go ahead to the next step.
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Heat the olive oil over very low heat. Add the garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Do not let the garlic burn. Add the shrimp and cook until they are pink throughout. Season with salt to taste.
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Remove from the heat and reserve.
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Peel avocado and crush using a fork until it doesn't have any lumps. Mix in the lime juice.
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Season with salt and pepper to taste.
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To assemble
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Spoon about tablespoon of avocado mix into the cups.
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Top each with a shrimp and garnish with cilantro leaves.
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Serve immediately.
I must clarify that I did not come up with the idea of these little cups; in fact I've tried it in several restaurants, usually filled with crab meat, and on at least one occasion with avocado and onions. This particular combination, however, is of my own making.
For this recipe you can use either unripe bananas or plantains. Plantains would be the more traditional choice (they are easier to work with and yield better-looking cups), but my experiment using green bananas turned surprisingly delicious; the taste and texture are pretty different than if using plantains. The picture above is of the banana version.
If you do use plantains, skip step 8, as plantains get dry and hard too easily.
Se ve muy apetitoso
I will try this receipt soon as a proud dominican
Looks delicious want to try them.
I love your recipes, this one I will do tomorrow, God willing. It’s just fantastic! I can taste it by just looking at it. Thank you!
How can i keep them fresh for a party? They will probably be sitting out for 2hrs or so. Before eating
I am not sure they’ll be that good in two hours. If you have tried old tostones you’ll know what I mean.
Lately I have been looking for a device that would make plaintain cups. I have found a few but never thought of using the lemon press. Thank you ever so much for the wonderful idea. I definitely will use it for other recipes.
Again thanks.
Carmen
Made this today, they are delicious!
Instead of frying them, can you form them in muffin tins and bake them, or would they be to soggy?
Plantains get super-dry that way. I don’t recommend it.
I’ve done these but filled with chicken the last 3 years on Easter Sunday!!! They are always a hit! But these I have to try this year
I just posted to our site your recipe. My wife Sonia and I have opened a Charity named: HappyHourHunters.com, its mission is to bring awareness about childhood hunger in America, for starters. I will shoot your recipes to video on our site and send you the link to upload to your site, if you chose. This is about having fun in the kitchen and great “Happy Hour” food. There is absolutely no money obligation on your part, I would like to have your permission to help us and you grow our audiences with your fantastic recipes.
That looks so yummy! I’m actually drooling here! Beautiful pictures too. A brilliant idea.
Hello, I would like to make those for a party (because they look incredibly delicious), but I might be short of time. Is there anyway I coud prepare the plantain cups in advance? If I fry them and leave them in the fridge, and then warm them in the oven right before serving will it ruin them? I’m new at cooking with plantains…
Unfortunately, no. Plantains get dry AND soggy real fast after cooked, depending on the weather from a few minutes to an hour.
Thanks for answering. That’s what I thought indeed… I did try to make them for another dinner, but the plantain cups would not hold very well. But then again I think they were African plantains (imported here in Europe), so the texture might be different. And everyone found it delicious anyways, even if it didn’t quite look as pretty!
Hello Clara. I want to make something like this for my family but we do not eat sea food. What can I substitute the shrimp with? Salchichon? Queso frito? What do you think? Thanx!
How about you top it with crispy bacon?
Sounds yummy. I will try that. Thank you so much for replying!
These look good
Just made this recipe OMG It was Delicious, LOVE LOVE THE TASTE!!!
I did add lil pieces of tomatoes and cilantro and lime.
Cool, I am glad to hear that.
This blog is amazing! I mean I'm dominican and the food here looks better than I've ever seen it! Great combinations too.
We love Dominican food. It's very delicious.
Hi i was wondering where do I get the shrimp cups ? I cannot find them anywhere
You need shrimps, the cups are made of plantains. Please read the recipe.
What a great dish! Especially because the avocado makes the plaintain cup more palatable, since they do get hard. I actually have a little contraption that makes these cups, brought to me by my "hijo postiso" from Equador.
try looking for Plantanos and other things like yucca, cilantro, fresh coconut at your local aisan market, good prices and lots of tropical produce.
What a superb idea! I love the plantain cups! It must surely be so delicious!
Very creative! And I just bought green plantains the other day but I let them ripen on me. Saving this for next time
My husband will surely give me a wonderful Christmas present after I prepare this dish for him. I swear, I am not kidding! He adores shrimps a little less than he loves me ( and I tell you that is a lot! insert proud wife grin!LOL!)
Anyway, I love the way you presented the dish and the flavors are just awesome. How unfortunate that I wont be able to take a bite. Hypersensitivity to shrimps…sigh. Thanks for the post! You rock!
That looks absolutely delicious. I have to find out where I can get platanos here. Thanks for sharing.