Rellenitos de plátano is a dish of sweet mashed

plantains Plantain may refer to: Plants and fruits * Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking ** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa'' * ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...

stuffed with a mixture of

refried beans Refried beans (from es, frijoles refritos, ) is a dish of cooked and mashed beans that is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

, and cinnamon. The assembled egg-shaped balls are

deep-fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Norma ...

, and then served with either

powdered sugar Powdered sugar, also called confectioners' sugar, or icing sugar, is a finely ground sugar produced by milling granulated sugar into a powdered state. It usually contains between 2% and 5% of an anti-caking agent – such as corn starch, p ...

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

on top. It is a common and very popular dessert in the cuisine of Guatemala.

Etymology

Rellenitos de plátano utilizes two of the most prevalent foods in the Latin American culture, black beans, known as ''frijoles negros'' in Spanish, and ripe plantains or ''plátanos''. ''Rellenito'' comes from the verb ''rellenar'' which means to stuff or fill. The suffix ''ito'' in Spanish is known as a diminutive. Hence ''rellenitos de plátano'' could be translated as "little stuffed plantain things".

Preparation

To prepare rellenitos, plantains are cut into medium-sized pieces and boiled with cinnamon until tender. Once they are tender, normally after about ten minutes of cooking time they are removed, mashed into a paste and set aside to cool. The paste is then formed into a small thick tortilla by hand, leaving the center indented resembling a small bowl. The bowl is then filled with a mixture of black refried beans, chocolate and cinnamon. The filling itself is made by melting Guatemalan or Maya chocolate in water and then adding refried beans and cinnamon. The bowl is then closed by wrapping the ends of the tortilla until it closes, creating something that resembles an egg — the plantain paste being the shell, with a black bean, chocolate, and cinnamon filling. The rellenito is then fried in a pan with oil until golden brown on all sides. They are generally served with either honey or powdered sugar on top."Rellenitos de Plátano – Stuffed Plantain Balls"
''La Salsa Inglesa'', April 23, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2016. Rellenitos are served year round and are what would be considered typical Guatemalan cuisine. They are very inexpensive and easy to prepare.

References

Guatemalan cuisine Plantain dishes Stuffed dishes {{Guatemala-cuisine-stub

Etymology

Preparation

See also

References