Creole Me Up: A Basic Plantain Tortilla Recipe

If you have been following along for a while, you know I love to use plantains in my cooking. From my first recipe, Maple Coconut Plantain Porridge: Identity in a Jar, to Plantain Chia Seed Breakfast Cookies to Fruity Plantain Chip Breakfast, it is a pretty versatile staple. There are even the recipes I haven’t posted but make often, like mofongo and tostones.

So when Elsy from Creole Me Up in the Portland area posted a short video on Instagram for a basic plantain dough for tortillas, I had to try. Elsy is a Haitian chef who not only shares delicious recipes and Haitian sayings, she has a cottage business selling spices and condiments.

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A post shared by Elsy Dinvil, MBA🇭🇹 (@creolemeup)

As luck would have it, I had some pretty black plantains just crying out to be used. First, I cut the plantain tips like she demonstrated and ran a slit down the side. Mine was a little big for my pot so I also cut it in half. As you can see, unlike bananas, a plantain can still be good even when the outside is full on black.

Then I boiled the plantain until it was bursting at the seams. It was about 5-6 minutes.

Using tongs, I lifted the plantain at the peel and held it over the food processor until it dropped in.

I added a dash of salt then blended until smooth. She uses some oil but I forgot and the dough turned out just fine.

Next, I dropped a tablespoon of 1:1 gluten free flour into the food processor until it started to form a ball. For this one plantain, that was about 9 tablespoons. You could probably use any flour you like, coconut or finely ground almond would work.

Moving it into a small bowl, I kneaded it into a ball with about 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme. She uses fresh but I was winging it so I used the dried thyme I had on hand.

I rolled the dough out on my silpat because it has a ruler, I wanted the tortilla to fit in my cast iron pan. I turned the pan on to medium heat but didn’t add oil.

When the pan was hot, I placed the tortilla in and browned it on both sides. It was probably a little thicker than it should have been, next time I would make two thinner tortillas.

After about 3-4 minutes on each side, I removed the tortilla and sauteed some cabbage and bacon to go inside.

Because it was thick, I couldn’t wrap it up like a burrito like Elsy did but it did fold nicely in half for picking up to eat. I was impressed by how it held together and didn’t crack like so many gluten free tortillas do.

What I really liked is that when my plantains get that black on the outside, they are sweet enough for desserts. I wasn’t sure how it would be for a more savory dish. But with the salt and thyme, it really wasn’t as sweet as I thought it might be and worked nicely with the cabbage and bacon. I am excited to try other combinations!