It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Yes! Its Christmas time! Can you hear my excitement with all my exclamation points!!!

I am the world’s biggest Christmas fanatic. The obsession gets worse and worse every year. I am not afraid to say it. I’m kind of not in denial at all. I mean seriously, any reason I can find to hang out with family and friends and cook all day? Count me in.  I am so privileged to have been able to decorate two Christmas trees this year. Therefore, I feel I deserve a Christmas tree decorating award and no I will NOT post pictures of them, I’m not sure you’ll want to see them, like at all hehe. The lights + Christmas trees + love + Christmas music = happiness for me.

Moving along to this mouth watering recipe, if I haven’t said this before well now you’ll know that my mom is from Puerto Rico. A lot of my recipes basically come from there. I learned this recipe from my mother dearest. She is pretty awesome (Just had to throw that in there). It’s a fried plantain formed into a cup filled with chicken and delicious spices. Why is it so mouth watering? You get the full package with this recipe. You get the crunchiness of the fried plantain and you get the delicious spices from the savory sauce of the chicken making a beautiful explosion of flavor in your mouth. Can you picture it in your mind now? That’s what I was aiming for.

This dish is fun to make with family and friends. While one fry’s, the other mashes the plantain into a cup. Pretty cool huh? I know. I tried my best to show the process step by step. If for whatever reason you get confused please let me know and I will help you out.

I want to take time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope everyone can spend this very special time with your loved ones. Once again thank you for all of your support and love! The Cook It Girl family is growing and it’s the best Christmas gift a girl can ever ask for. Merry Christmas!!!!!

Tostones Rellenos Recipe ( Filled Plantains) 

Ingredients

-2 Chicken breasts
-5 Green plantains
-2 whole limes
-Half of a red pepper, sliced or diced
-Half of a onion, sliced
-1 Can of tomato sauce
-1 Packet of culantro y achiote
-2 Teaspoons of Goya Adobo seasoning or seasoning of your choice
-3 Tablespoons of Sofrito
-4 Garlic cloves 
-2 Tablespoon of cooking oil for chicken

-2 Cups of cooking oil for Plantains
First, slice the chicken breast into small pieces
Place the chicken in a bowl and squeeze one whole lime over it. This process is to clean the chicken
Rinse the chicken with water
Now, to season the chicken squeeze another whole lime on the chicken.

Add 2 teaspoons of Adobo. Depending how salty you would like it, feel free to add more
Add 3 tablespoons of sofrito
Add half a teaspoon of crushed garlic
Add 1 pack of culantro y achiote

Mix all the ingredients together
Now slice the peppers & onions and set aside
Set the stove to  medium / high heat and pour 2 tablespoons of oil into the pot
Once the pan is hot, pour the chicken breast with all its good juices
Also add the onions and peppers. Feel free to add more onions or peppers! Stir all of these ingredients together. If you see that there isn’t enough liquid in the pan add half a cup of water so the chicken can cook well. Cover the chicken and let cook for about 10 minutes
After about 10 minutes add the can of tomato sauce. Stir the chicken and add another half cup of water, let it cook for about 10 more minutes
Your chicken should look like this

Now, get the chicken and place on a plate. The chicken will be soft enough to cut into thin pieces. After you are done chopping all the chicken into even smaller pieces, place back into the pan and set aside.( stove off)

On to the plantains! Take off the skin of the plantain

Cut into big pieces, about 2 inches each
Set oven to low/medium heat.Pour 2 cups of cooking oil into a pan. You need a lot of oil because the plantains need to be semi-submerged into the pan in order for them to cook inside
When the oil isn’t too hot, before it starts to bubble, place the plantains inside

Let the plantains fry evenly on both sides. They should look this color when they are flipped. Let them sit on each side for about 1 to 2 minutes each
You know when the plantain is ready, when your fork goes half way into the thick plantain. If when you try to take the plantain out from the pan and you feel that the fork doesn’t go in to deep, then let them cook longer. Now if you don’t own a plantain press, you can use a teacup with the wooden stick of a garlic masher. Place the plantain inside the cup and press down on it

Then slowly lift the edges off of the plantain and flip the cup. It pops right off
If you own a plantain press, just place the plantain inside and press down
They should come out like this.

Now, add more oil to the pan that you previously used to fry the same plantains and set stove on medium/high heat

Once the oil is hot, add the plantain cups facing down. Fry on both sides till they are golden in color

Once they are golden in color, place on a napkin to get rid of excess oil
Finally, yes i know its a long process, fill it up with Chicken! There you have it, a mini master piece. You can also use shrimp or ground beef as a filling! Enjoy!