Plantains, or cooking bananas/green bananas, are everywhere in Ecuador! They can be recognised by their big size and if unripe, their green colour. The bananas are different from the 'normal' bananas you usually find in the supermarket. They have a higher amount of starch and less sugar and if I am correct, also contain vitamin B6, vitamin C and much potassium and sodium. When unripe, they are quite tasteless but when yellow, they become more sweet. For this recipe, we will use the unripe plantain which is also used for patacones, bolon de verde, empanadas de verde and chifles, dishes you can find throughout Ecuador. The recipe I will describe is very simple and can be made for breakfast (as an alternative for scrambled eggs for example) or for lunch/dinner in combination with veggies. 

Ingredients (2p, lunch):

Plantain dish:
- 2 green plantains
- 1 onion
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp paprika powder (optional)
- vegetable oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- water

On the side: 
- 1 avocado
- 2 tomatoes
- kidney/brown beans

1. Put enough water to boil for boiling the plantain.
2. To prepare the plantain you first need to rid it of it's peel. You can do this by cutting the corners down, and then peel of the rest of the peel. Or follow this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5XW4iRSMcI
3. Cut the plantain in 5 pieces and add to the boiling water. Let it boil for 30 minutes, or until you can quite easily put a fork in it. 
4. In the mean time, cut the tomatoes into small pieces and cut the avocado into slices. Also cut the onion and the garlic into small pieces. 
5. Bake the beans in a frying pan. 
6. When the plantains are cooked, put them in a bowl and crush them with a fork until you only have small pieces (0.5-1 cm)
7. Heat up oil in a frying pan, when hot add the onion and bake for 5 minutes, then add the garlic for 1 minute and then add plantain, the cumin and paprika powder and bake until the plantain is golden-brown. 
8. Add salt & peper to taste. 
9. Put everything together on a plate and enjoy! :D 

You can basically mix this plantain dish (without the side ingredients) with everything. You can add it to soup, or in wraps, or well just almost anything! :)