Guatemalan cuisine

Rellenitos

Rellenitos de plátano

Balls of ripe plantain purée filled with sweetened black beans and chocolate.

Prep
45 min
Cook
45 min
Total
90 min
Difficulty
Medium
Servings
6
Units

Ingredients

  • Ripe plantainsblack-skinned6
  • Black beanscooked300 g
  • Sugar120 g
  • Dark chocolate80 g
  • Cinnamon1 tsp
  • Ground cloves½ tsp
  • Flour60 g
  • Oil for frying800 ml
  • Icing sugarto serve40 g
  • Soured creamto serve150 ml
  • Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

  1. 1

    Boil the plantains in their skins for twenty minutes, until completely soft.

    25 min

  2. 2

    Peel them hot and mash them into a smooth purée with a pinch of salt and the flour.

    10 min

  3. 3

    Chill the purée for half an hour; warm, it will not hold as balls.

    32 min

  4. 4

    Mash the cooked beans and reduce them with the sugar, cinnamon and cloves to a thick paste.

    20 min

  5. 5

    Stir the chocolate into the hot bean paste and cool it completely.

    20 min

  6. 6

    Flatten a piece of purée on your palm, add the bean filling and seal it into a firm ball.

    20 min

  7. 7

    Fry at 170 °C for three minutes, to a browned crust, and serve with icing sugar and soured cream.

    18 min

About the dish

The filling is sweet but made of beans. Black beans are reduced with sugar, cinnamon and chocolate into a paste — this is a dessert, and surprise at that is normal.

The plantain must be as ripe as possible, black-skinned. A yellow one stays starchy and the dough will not hold as a ball.

The purée is chilled before shaping. Warm it sticks to the hands and falls apart in the oil; cold it holds.

Worth knowing

  • The ball has to be sealed without gaps. Through any crack the filling escapes into the oil and starts to burn.
  • Wet your hands before each ball. Plantain purée sticks more than any dough.
  • Make the bean paste the day before. It thickens overnight and shaping becomes noticeably easier.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories
480 kcal
Protein
8 g
Fat
16 g
Carbs
78 g

More from Guatemala

  • PepiánChicken in a thick sauce of toasted seeds and chillies. One of Guatemala's oldest dishes.
  • Guatemalan tamalesCorn dough with meat and recado sauce, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed.
  • Kak'ikA red turkey soup with charred chillies and spices, a dish of the Q'eqchi' Maya.