AIP breakfast tostones with fried-garlic guacamole - twice-fried green plantain

AIP takes eggs and toast out of the morning entirely, and for a few weeks, breakfast becomes its own small daily puzzle you have to solve from scratch. This is one real answer: crisp, twice-fried plantain coins with a guacamole savory enough to eat at 7am.

Avocado does more than make the guacamole creamy. It is a genuine source of potassium, and its fat is mostly monounsaturated, the steady kind that holds you until the next meal instead of sending you back to the cupboard an hour in. If histamine is part of your picture, know avocado runs moderate on that scale, so watch how this one sits with you.

Use green plantains only, never yellow. The starch that makes them crisp disappears once they ripen and sweeten. Fry the garlic slow until it turns gold, not brown, and let that smell fill the kitchen while you work. A few unhurried minutes at the stove, even for something this ordinary, still counts as caring for yourself.

Ingredients

Guacamole:

• 1 large Haas avocado
• 2 tbsp minced shallot
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1.5 tbsp lime juice
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 to 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp bacon fat or olive oil

Tostones:

• 2 green plantains (must be green, not yellow)
• 2 tbsp bacon fat or olive oil
• 1/2 to 3/4 tsp AIP-compliant breakfast spice blend (nightshade-free, seed-spice-free)
• Pinch of salt

Method

Mash the avocado with the shallot, cilantro, lime juice, garlic powder, and salt.

Fry the whole garlic cloves in the fat until lightly golden, about 60 to 90 seconds per side. Watch them, because deep brown turns bitter. Chop the softened cloves and stir them into the guacamole.

Peel the plantains by scoring the skin lengthwise, then cut them into 1-inch coins. Fry the coins in the same fat, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Smash each coin to about 1/4 inch with the flat bottom of a glass. Return them to the pan and refry, about 1 minute per side, until crisp. Season right away with the spice blend and salt. Serve warm with the guacamole.

Air fryer variation

An air fryer can do the second crisping with less fat, once the coins are fried and smashed. Brush the smashed coins lightly with fat and air-fry at around 400 F until crisp, turning once. Treat the time as a starting point and watch them closely, since air fryers vary. (This variation is an ARM addition, not from the source; verify the timing before relying on it.)

*Adapted from grazedandenthused.com*