True, like with bananas.
I think ripe mashed plantains can be an egg substitute like bananas are?
Not that I’ve come across. Its primarily used as a starch in Latin American and Caribbean cooking.
The texture is far firmer than a banana, even when theyre ripe, and they dont taste at all like a banana, and the oil content is lower…making it a lousy sub for fats.
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I think in India the are called “Cooking Bananas” or “Raw Bananas” not sure if that applies to Sri Lanka as well
I have cooked and eaten plenty of plantains, so am familiar with them. I like them unripe and starchy in savoury applications.
While I use bananas as an egg replacer in baking, it hadn’t occurred to me to try very ripe plantains.
Yes, plantains are sometimes called raw or cooking bananas in India, and tend to used when less ripe in savory dishes.
Thats what Im saying. Plantains are far more starchy, far less sweet, and far less oily, so I think subbing them for fats in baking would be really bad
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I’ve not made this but it sure looks good:
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I liked the plantain with rice and beans at a local Colombian restaurant.
Unfortunately, the restaurant closed.
They topped fried plantain with rice and black beans.
This looks interesting.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/colombian-style-black-beans-potatoes-and-plantains/
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I recently had the unorthodox combination of ravioli stuffed with sweet plantain in a bolognese sauce. It was excellent.
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Like that idea. Southern style pierogi.
Maduros, tostones, in casseroles, whatever. I love them all. I do, however, prefer my tostones pretty thick. The cochinita pibil upthread looked tantalizing. I also love tostones with albondigas, yuca, and congris.
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Fried, almost ripe plantain chunks. Fried once, smashed, dipped in salted garlic water, and fried again.
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Me again! Sneaking these in since husband likes them green…also, probably not suited for the healthy threads. 
I almost had an avacado, but it was even more past it’s prime. 
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Could i make maduros with the leftover lard I have ?
You certainly can, though I would worry the lard flavor would kind of get in the way, but of course that really depends on how flavorful your lard is. Once upon a time just about everything was fried in lard here.
I fry maduros in very little oil so not much would be used (don’t know if you’re looking to deep fry specifically), as I dislike when maduros are deep-fried, which imo produces an inferior result.
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You might consider canoas, which are deep-fried and would be great fried in lard given they get a meat filling:
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I’d like to hear more about that!
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So I mentioned being very particular about how maduros are prepared 
…
I do not like the way restaurants fry maduros, which is those thick hunks that are deep-fried (sadly in many cases they brown while still not being cooked through, and in the best cases they’re fine, but not amazing). I cut ripe plantains into fairly thin planks, say somewhere around 1/4 inch thick and basically shallow fry them, though I might use a bit less oil than that even. When you fry like this with the plantains making direct contact with the pan’s surface, you get sugar caramelization that you don’t get when they’re deep-fried. The edges in particular get lacy and crisp when you remove the plantains from the pan and drain them and they cool a bit. When you cut plantains in thin planks and shallow fry vs thick deep-fried hunks you get:
- More exposed surface area which means you don’t get a bunch of soft plantain innards
- Sweeter, more flavorful plantains because of more surface area exposed to caramelization
- Textural contrast because of crisp, caramelized sugar edges vs softer centers
This is basically how plantains are fried for things like pastelón, since you want thin layers of the plantains and eggplant, and it’s also how I grew up eating fried maduros. Some people cut them as thick as 1/2 inch and that works, too, though I try to go thinner.
I like them fairly dark so the caramelized sugar gets a bit bitter on the edges. The heat has to be moderate so you don’t end up with burnt plantains. I add more oil if the pan looks and sounds dry.
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Plantains are amazing as a filling for pasta. Ripe, sweet plantains are mashed with butter, salt and pepper and put into raviolis which are then boiled and served with bolognese sauce. I was blown away when I was served this in a restaurant and the waiter was kind enough to tell me how the pasta was made.
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