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Bolon de verde: Ecuadorian mashed green plantain dumpling balls with cheese

Bolon de verde – mashed green plantain dumplings or balls stuffed with cheese and/or chicharrones (or chorizo or bacon) and fried until crispy- is another traditional Ecuadorian recipe from the coastal region.

En Español

This classic Ecuadorian breakfast dish consists of green plantains which are fried over medium heat until very tender, then mashed into dough, stuffed with cheese or pork, formed into round balls, and then fried again until crispy. Bolon is a slang term that means large ball, so you could translate the name of this dish as green plantain balls, but I think green plantain dumpling is probably a better food translation.

These bolones or stuffed dumplings can be served for breakfast or brunch; they are also a great side dish or good appetizers.If you are serving bolon de verde for breakfast or brunch I suggest that you accompany it with hot coffee, a fried egg, hot sauce, and some tomato or avocado slices.

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Bolones are typically stuffed with cheese or with chicharrones, which I have to clarify that unlike in Mexico and Central America where chicharrones are fried pork rinds, what we call chicharrones in Ecuador are actually chunks of deep fried fatty pork meat– yes, not the healthiest, but very tasty.

For this recipe I made some bolones stuffed with cheese and others stuffed with chorizo, instead of chicharrones.In some cases the last step of frying the stuffed dumplings is omitted and instead the bolon de verde is served right after being stuffed, personally I prefer to fry it again because I love the crispy exterior that it gets and it also ensures that the dumplings are nice and warm when you eat them.

I tried to come up with a healthier variation by boiling the green plantains until tender –as opposed to frying them -, but it is much harder to get the right consistency that way, instead I ended up making another dish called majado or molloco de verde – a dish with similar ingredients to bolon de verde but instead of making dumplings you just mash the plantains and mix everything together (similar to a potato hash).

Green plantains can be somewhat difficult to peel, the best way to peel them is to make the lengthwise cut on one of the protruding edges, the cut should be skin deep only without touching the actual flesh of the fruit, next use the knife to raise the skin and then peel off the skin with your hands. The greener they are the harder it is to peel them as the flesh tends to stick to the peel, in that case peel it as best you can and then use a knife to remove the stubborn parts of the skin.I do this under cold running water to keep them from staining everything and from darkening.

For a vegetarian version you can stuff the bolones with cheese, also if you are ever traveling in Ecuador and want to order these as a vegetarian dish –same thing applies for many other dishes – you should know that lard is used more than oil to fry or cook food (even rice), and most people are so used to it that even if you specifically request no meat in your dish they will sometimes still use lard -called manteca – in the preparation of your vegetarian dish,this is not done not out of evil, just out of habit.

Bolon de verde or fried green plantain dumplings

Bolon de verde are green plantain dumplings stuffed with cheese, chorizo or chicharrones and fried until crispy.
4.88 from 154 votes
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Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, Brunch, Side Dish
Cuisine: Ecuadorian, Latin, South American
Keyword: Bolon de verde, Cheese, Green plantain, Green plantain dumplings, Mashed green plantain balls, Plantains
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 8 bolones

Ingredients

  • 4 green plantains peeled and cut in medium sized chunks
  • 4-5 tbs butter or lard
  • 2 tbs oil canola or sunflower
  • 1 tbs hot pepper or chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 cup grated cheese and/or 1 cup cooked chorizo or chicharrones (fried pork belly) or bacon
  • Salt to taste
  • Ground peanuts optional – add when mashing the green plantains

Instructions

  • Melt the butter or lard over medium heat in large sauté pan
  • Add the plantain chunks and cook for about 40 minutes or until they are very soft, turn them about every 10 minutes, they should be slightly golden but not too crispy.
  • Sprinkle the cooked plantains with the chili powder, cumin and salt.
  • Transfer the plantain pieces to a bowl, do this while they are still hot (but be careful not to burn yourself).
  • Mash the plantains using a wood masher – or just a regular potato masher – until you obtain chunky dough like consistency.
  • Form balls slightly smaller than the size of a tennis ball with the dough.
  • Make a hole in the middle of each ball and fill it with the cheese or chorizo or chicharrones (mixed with ground peanuts), gently press the filling into the hole, cover the filling and reshape it back into a ball shape.
  • Heat the oil over high heat, add the stuffed plantain dumplings and fry them until they are golden and crispy on each side.
  • Transfer to plate lined with paper towels to drain the grease and serve immediately.

Step by step preparation photos for Ecuadorian bolon de verde or green plantain dumplings

Other green plantain recipes:

Empanadas de verde or green plantain empanadas

Chifles or thin green banana chips

Patacones or thick fried green plantains

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46 Comments

  1. Hi laylita .My husband is from Ecuador and really misses the food . I tried to make the bolones which he loves but they kept falling apart in the second cooking .I thought i squeezed them together right !Do you think if they are too brown before you mash them that that would effect it , or should i have added the butter from the pan to the mix?also is it teaspoon or tablespoon of cumin and chilli powder.please help me get this right for my lovely hubby.I made your encebolada of tuna and he loved it thanks.

    Hi Ann – I’ve found that the key to the bolones (or any other dish that involves mashing green plantains) is keeping them warm when you work with them, it’s best to have the fillings ready and as soon as the plantains are cooked (you can poke at them to make sure that they are tender inside) but not overly browned or crispy, once it is safe enough (temperature wise) to handle them you need to mash them as quickly as possible, form the balls and stuff them. Another factor are the plantains themselves, most of these are shipped from South/Central America and are not always in the best condition, so they don’t always cook the way they should – also for dishes with green plantains the ones that are easiest to work with are those that are still green but not extremely green. I didn’t add any additional butter from the pan, they absorb it during cooking. For the cumin powder it should be a teaspoon (sorry – that is corrected), but I did use a tablespoon of chili powder – mainly because I like them spicy but you add less if you prefer. I hope this helps!

  2. Hi Laylita,

    This looks exactly to my Peruvian Tacacho, grilled or fried green plantain and then mashed and mixed with salt, bacon and a little bit of the bacon oil. It is very popular in the Jungle on Peru and we called “Tacacho”

    Thanks for sharing your recipe.

    Elsa

  3. These really look yummy. Don’t know whether I can find plantains here in East
    Tennessee though. As always one can almost taste the photographs!!

  4. This looks really good and I will have to try it. I am from Guyana, South America and plantains is a part of our diet, so this will definitely be made!

  5. I love your recipes and especially the photographs of the food. They make my mouth water. I lived in Ecuador for about 18 months as a missionary and I miss the food a lot. Have you already put up a recipe for quimbolitos?

    Hi Lydia – No recipe for quimbolitos yet, but they are also on my list, I made them a while ago using foil as wrappers since I couldn’t find the achira leaves, but I’m going to try again using banana leaves, if they turn out well I will post the recipe.

  6. Laylita,
    Thanks for this recipe. When I lived in Ecuador we frequently ate a caldo de verde which had similar bolones, always stuffed with cheese. Do you have a recipe for this dish? It was very simple, I think with a chicken stock base.

    Raquelita.

    Hi Rachel – I’m working on the recipe for caldo de bolas, it is a very requested dish so hopefully I will have that recipe posted soon.

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