HOW TO PEEL A PLANTAIN
A plantain is harder to peel than a banana but is always easier to pare than a potato. If it is boiled with the skin on, the peel will slide off after cooking. If is raw, take the following steps to peel it.
With a sharp knife, cut off both ends of the plantain, leaving a little of the pulp core exposed. Make a lengthwise incision down one of the ridges at the corners, being careful not to pierce through to the pulp. Do the same with an adjacent ridge, cutting off an entire side of the plantain. With the edge of the knife, lift off the top part of the divided section and pull down sharply. The entire segment of the other sides and you will have an entire peeled plantain ready to fry, boil, mash, or cook any way you desire.
When peeling ripe plantains for cooking, you may also make another lengthwise incision in the flesh down to the center. Open up the pulp and extract the core, or heart, which sometimes has small seedlike spots. This practice is optional.
Cut off steam at top and bottom.
Run Knife lightly down length of skin