Delicious Piononos

Piononos are a savory FRIED PLANTAIN MEAT PIES. Puerto Rican piononos are prepared using yellow, or sweet plantain as the "bread" around a delicious filling. It is usually stuffed with a meat filling called picadillo or seafood with cheese, the whole sandwich is dipped in a batter made from flour and eggs then deep-fried.

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Main Ingredients

  1. 5 sweet ripped plantains, peeled, cut lengthwise into 1⁄4″ slices.
  2. Picadillo – Ground meat of any preference or Seafood or Vegetables.
  3. The batter - Made out of 2 eggs, lightly beaten, 1 tbsp. Flour.
  4. 1 cup canola oil for frying.
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Filling

  1. Ingredients for the Savory meat/seafood or veggies:
  2. 2 tbsp. olive oil
  3. 2 cloves garlic, minced
  4. 1 large yellow onion, minced
  5. 1 1⁄2 tsp. ground achiote or Paprika
  6. 1 tsp. ground cumin
  7. 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  8. 1 tsp. dried oregano
  9. 1 1⁄2 lb. ground beef chuck / seafood / veggies
  10. 1⁄4 cup raisins (optional)
  11. 1⁄4 cup roughly chopped pimiento-stuffed green olives
  12. 16 oz. canned whole, peeled tomatoes in juice, crushed Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, Sofrito to taste or just a bunch of chopped fresh cilantro
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Preparation Steps – Visuals

It is a good practice to start with the most complicated preparation. In this case the meat/seafood/veggies should be cook first. Follow the details for the filling preparation at the end of this page. Meanwhile the filling is cooking you should peal and cut the sweet plantains and fry them. This process can be a bit messy and hot due to the oil and the frying. Then, one should move on to prepare the simple batter. Enjoy the photos that I have collected from online. Soon I will use my own photos.
Click on image for a larger view and click on larger view to see the following photo.

Follow the Recipe

Cooking the Filling:

To make filling, heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, sofrito or chopped cilantro and onion; cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add achiote or Paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and oregano; cook for 1 minute. Add beef; cook until browned, about 6 minutes. Add raisins, olives, and tomatoes; cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; Note: If using the economical ground beef , I suggest to boil it a bit first with onions, garlic and salt. Drain in out of the oily water and just add it to the mentioned ingredients above.

Prep and fry the sweet plantains:
Prep 5 ripe plantains, peeled, cut lengthwise into 1⁄4″ slices. Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the strips of plantains.

Making the plantain cakes:
To make pies, shape one or two fried plantain slices into a 4″ cylinder, overlapping their ends, and securing with toothpicks. Repeat to make 12 cylinders.

Whisk the Batter:
Whisk together the two eggs, 1 tbsp. of flour in a bowl.

Frying the Cakes:
Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Pour one tablespoon of batter into oil and place the plantain cylinder in it. Quickly stuff cylinders with 1⁄4 cup of the filling. Cover the top of the cylinder with another tablespoon of batter and turn over for it to cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.