Plantain Balls (Plantain Pilées)

5 from 1 vote

These plantain balls, or plantain pilé, are a popular dish in Gabon. They can be served either plain or with sauce!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine gabon

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Total Time 20

Servings servings

Calories 291kcal

Peel the plantains and cut them into slices.
Heat up two pots of boiling water. In one pot, cook the green plantains until they are fork tender.
In the other pot, cook the yellow/brown plantains until they are fork tender.
Put both kinds of plantain in a bowl together and mash until smooth. Add a pinch of salt.
Use your hands to form the mashed plantains into large balls. You can wet your hands with water to keep the mixture from sticking. Allow them to cool , then slice.
You can serve with sauces if desired. Enjoy!

Recipe from The Foreign Fork. For educational or personal use only.

Plantains: When picking out your plantains, make sure to choose 2 plantains that are green (unripe) and 2 that are yellow/brown color (ripe). Each have a very different flavor profile and you need a blend of each to get this recipe right.
The two different plantains must be cooked in separate pots because they cook at different rates based on their level of ripeness
For instructions on how to peel a plantain, check out this article on Tostones
To cook the unripe plantains in the Instant Pot, peel them into 1-1.5 inch slices. Place them in the Instant Pot with 2 cups of water and secure the lid. Turn the cooking pressure to HIGH for 6 minutes. When the cook time has completed, perform a Quick Release.