Flan and tostones 101

Let me begin by stating as fun as this was to make tutorials for my interested readers, I still do not like cooking and this will not become a cooking blog. However it was fun to try and I still enjoy reading your cooking endeavors!

Flan 101:

Flan is a dessert staple throughout Latin America with the Dominican Republic being one of the many countries to enjoy this treat. Jesus’s aunt Julia was in town and decided to show me how to make it! Today was my first attempt making flan alone.  Here's aunt Julia!

Ingredients: 5 eggs, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1 can evaporated milk and I teaspoon vanilla.  You will also need about three big scoops of sugar for the caramel.

First thing you will need is this hand dandy flanera!  It’s a special flan pan that has a bunt shape on top for the flan with a pot for water on the bottom.  It’s like a double boiler.  I am sure you can be creative with this if you do not have a flanera.  It also needs a lid!

Step one: Add water to of the bottom of the flanera up to the line or just fill the bottom of a double boiler about half way.

Step two: mix eggs, two milks and vanilla together with electric mixer. If you do not have an electric mixer you can hand mix but will want to run it through a strainer later. Set bowl aside.

Step three:  heat up a frying pan and add the sugar.  Mix sugar constantly until all lumps disappear and it turns a clear brown color which is caramel.

Step four: Pour the caramel into the bunt part of the flanera.  This will be the flan’s topping.

Step five: Run the mixture you set aside through a strainer and into the bunt part of the pan right on top of the caramel.

                                               

Step six: cook on the stove with lid on for 25 minutes or 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Cook until you can poke it with a fork and it comes out clean.  I did the on the stove method and cooked it over 40 minutes and the fork was still not perfectly clean!  My aunt and I cooked it closer to 25 minutes and it was fine so practice makes perfect or she’s magic or maybe it finishes setting in the fridge...I have no idea, I just wanted to be sure the egg was cooked.

  Notice my fork is still not clean as it should be but I ran out of time and had to leave the house.

Step seven: Remove bunt pan from water basin and loosen edges with a knife including the center ring.  Let flan sit on counter about 15 minutes.

Step eight: Loosen the edges with a knife one more time and then turn flan over onto a plate so the caramel is now on top.

 

Step nine: Let sit in fridge overnight however I let it sit until I wanted to eat it which was only a few hours.

The verdict: It looked great and tasted great but it still had parts that were too soft.  I am thinking the problem may have been having the heat too low on the stove because I didn't want it to boil or burn.  I am guessing by using the double boiler I could have turned up the heat and it still wouldn't have burned the top pan like I was afraid of.  I guess I will try that next time to see if that makes the fork come out clean!

Tostones 101:

Tostones are fried plantains and another Dominican staple.  Even the Dominican baseball team is known for its’ platano power! These are the green plantains not the yellow and soft sweet ones made with brown sugar.  Those are called maduros. 

Step one: Peel the plantain.  This can be tricky.  One way to do it is to score the edges or corners and then peel with a knife the piece between the scoring.  See photo!  Or just take your knife to the plantain and do whatever it takes to get the thick green peel off while trying to keep the inside as smooth as possible.  Easier said than done!

Melinda was my cooking assistant for her Dominican vacation!

Step two: There are different ways to achieve the end result but I am going to explain the less greasy microwave method. Slice the plantain in half and microwave it for one to two minutes until it starts to get soft.  You should be able to smoosh it in the tostonera no problem as shown in step four.

Step three: Slice the plantain into small pieces that will become your tostones.  

Step four: Place plantain in your tostonera and smoosh it!  The photo has a tostonera made from wood but you can also get a metal one.  

If you do not have a tostonera, smoosh the plantain with the bottom of a glass so you get a round disc.  For some reason my tostones often don't turn out perfectly and they like to stick to the tostonera and turn into pieces rather than a nice disk.  Maybe I should try cooking spray or get more practice.  The first two photos shows what they should look like and the third photo shows some with problems.

  

 

Step five: Fry your little discs (tostones) in a substantial about of oil turning only once until they are softer and a yellow golden color!

 

Step six: Sprinkle on some salt and enjoy!  Personally I prefer to eat tostones with fried slices of salami and a ketchup/mayo mix for a dipping sauce.