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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. These look amazing. I lived in Ibarra and Quito for 1 1/2 years as a university student, almost 20 years ago. Memories of the food and how it looked/tasted are so vivid for me. FYI, recent nutritional research suggests that lard is actually a much healthier fat for frying than vegetable oils, because it can withstand the higher temperatures much better — so no need to feel guilty!

    Hi Linda – Thank you for your comment, I’ve started incorporating lard a little bit more into my cooking, the interesting thing is that it seems hard to find a good quality one – the regular grocery stores just carry one brand (in a small blue box), but I’ve been able to find lard in the round buckets (just like in Ecuador) in some of Latin grocery stores.

    1. I have been trying to find good quality lard as well.
      I never thought about looking for the ones in the Latin grocery stores. I will check my local Latin grocery stores for Lard.

      Can I make them and freeze them. I would love to have this as a breakfast option but can make these fresh all the time. so i was thinking about making them freezing them and placing them in the oven to warm when I want to eat them

      1. Bolones are really best when eaten right at the time when they’re made. I haven’t tried freezing them and personally I don’t really like them much re-heated. But, I completely understand the idea of wanting to have them for breakfast without having to worry about going out to fin green plantains.

  2. I remember my grandmother making these. One variation – the plantains were cooked over coals before mashed. Also the best I ever had was when she made them combined with roasted mashed peanuts – Bolon con mani. Yumm.

  3. My brother in Law and inlaws have been here since the end of Feb and I we have been trying some of your recipes. This is so good and we had some Queso freso from Ecuador and they were so good.

  4. So glad to have found this. My book club is reading Darwin’s Origin of Species and we need to bring Ecuadoran food to the party next month. This looks delicious and easy to make! Thanks for sharing!

  5. Laylita,
    I think your site is fantastic, I´m not suchof a good cook but I like to try. Your pictures and intructiions are so easy to follow that I´ve become an addict to your siteIve reccomended it to all my freinds at work. Congratulations
    Ps. If you could post the recipe for tigrillo ( another plantain dish) that would be great.
    Thanks

  6. mmmm, I remember caldo de bolas from my days in coastal Ecuador also.

    This got me to remembering to try to find the recipe for the tortillas de maiz that were sold alongside the roads in coastal ecuador. The vendors would board the bus with them and sell them on the way through town, getting off at the other end of town to catch the next bus going the other direction. They were more of a large hockey-puck shaped ball of ground fresh corn, stuffed with the local salty cheese, then fried, I believe. I remember watching my landlady make them, but never wrote down a recipe.

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