Jibarito

So tonight, I tried something a little out of the ordinary:  a Puerto Rican dish called Jibarito.

First off, you will need:

Vegetable oil, plantains, garlic, beef, an onion, ground cumin, dried oregano, mayo, American cheese, and a tomato

Peel plantains and halve them lengthwise.

Heat oil in a large, deep skillet or fryer to about 350 degrees F.

Place plantain halves in the oil and cook 1-2 minutes.

Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.

Place halves between two cutting board and press to flatten.

Place the flattened plantains back in the oil for 2-3 minutes.

Drain on paper towels.

Heat more oil in a large skillet.  Add garlic, beef, onion, cumin, and oregano.

Cook, stirring frequently, until beef is cooked through.

To serve, spread mayo on one of the plantain slices.

Top with cheese, steak and onion mixture, and tomato.

Place the other plantain half on top to form a sandwich.  Cut in half and serve!

Recipe:

 2 cups vegetable oil for frying

4 green plantain, peeled and halved lengthwise

.5 cup vegetable oil

1 pound beef skirt steak, cut into thin strips

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

.5 teaspoon dried oregano

.25 cup mayonnaise

4 slices American cheese, cut in half

8 slices tomato

Heat 2 cups vegetable oil in a large, deep skillet or fryer to 350 degrees F.  Place plantain halves in the oil and cook 1 to 2 minutes, until they float.  Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.

Place plantain halves between 2 cutting boards.  Press to flatten.  Place the flattened plantains back in the oil and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.

Heat half a cup of vegetable oil (I used some that I fried the plantains in) in a large skillet.  Add the garlic, steak, onion, cumin, and oregano.  Cook, stirring frequently, until steak is cooked through.

To serve, spread mayonnaise on one of the plantain slices.  Top with cheese, steak and onion mixture, and tomato.  Place the other plantain half on top to form a sandwich.  Cut in half and serve!

Strength Modifier:

  Not very filling, though, I'll admit, I didn't care for the plantains at all, so I just ate the cheesy filling.

Intelligence Modifier:

  These took quite a bit of time to put together and I burned the first few plantains because it was the first time I've ever tried deep frying anything.

Wisdom Modifier:

  Plantains were almost too difficult to find around here.  I also had to substitute stew meat for skirt steak because it was far too expensive for my budget.

Charisma Modifier:

  The beef and onion mixture was delicious.  The plantains came out dry with practically no flavor.  I took a couple of bites, then just scraped the filling off the "sandwiches" and ate it alone.

Constitution Modifier:

  The website I took this recipe from said these "sandwiches" packed a whopping 1200 calories a piece.  In reality, that seems a little far-fetched, but even still, these were NOT healthy.

Overall Score:

  One of the lowest scores I've ever given!  These were wholly unimpressive to me, though my husband and roommate both seemed to like theirs.  I won't be making them again, but I feel that it's the point of my blog to post my cooking successes and failures.  This was pretty much a botch!