O Almoco hoje esta atrasado

O Almoco hoje esta atrasado- Lunch today is late

First recipe to go up! Good for a late lunch,early dinner.You may be able to expand this recipe for a get together.

Substitutions for food sensitivities or allergies are included in green type.

To provide some background, I lived in NY for a while and got used to the sorts of street food you can get, at least in Mnhtn. Specifically, I lived in BK where there is a community of folks from the islands and as folk tend to bring their food traditions with them, you would be hard pressed, at least where I was living, to go more than 10-15 minutes without seeing a corner shop,bakery etc...without foodstuff from the Carribbean.

I cooked up a health,hearty 'gyro' of sorts and as I take stock of what all I put in it, you could say it is an homage to caribbean flavors served up in the style of gyros you get from food carts and spiced by the type of hot sauce used on B American soul food.I added in some avocado to the recipe here.

{*} Garlic Butter
       * Melt some butter in a frying pan at a low tempature/simmer and add fresh
          garlic to suit your taste.Let this cook at a low heat while preparing other ingredients.

{1} Plantain
       * These could be described as a huge bananna and with a darker texture.I usually buy the
           yellowish ones.There is a darker black color at the 'seams'.If there are foodies out there that
           can hip me to the right term for the 'seams' please feel free to comment.

       * In order to slice the plantain, I cut off a small piece of the top and bottom, take a knife and cut
          at the seams,strip off the outside and cut it into pieces. I've made them by cutting longer strips,
          or also cut on the bias (slant) to have a nice oval shape for the sake of presentation.

{1} Tomato diced

{1} Onion diced
       * This depends on how many people you are servivg, how much onion you like etc..
          For this recipe I didn't cook them I just sliced long, pieces of varying widths.

{1} Pack of flatbread (I don't remember the exact brand)

{1} Chikpeas

       A substitution may be corn,if you have a sensitivty or allergy to corn,you might be able to
       use pieces of baked squash.

{*} Rice
       * I don't think I did an exact measurement here, safe bet may be to follow portion instructions
          given on the packaging of the rice you buy according to the number of people you are cooking
          for.I cooked the chickpeas in the same pot as the rice.If you choose this method, you can add
          them before the rice has absorbed all of the water.

{1} Avacado
        * Make sure the avacado doesn't give too much.I press down slightly with one finger to test the
           firmness.

{*} Vegetable Oil
       * Use as much as it takes to have the bottom of the pan covered by a thin layer.Unless you are
          frying or using another cooking technique...
       
        If you have a sensitivity or allergy to oil you can also boil plantains although I myself have 
        never used this method



Set up your garlic butter 

Chop up your ingredients

Drizzle some of the garlic butter onto the flatbread with a spoon and set a few pieces of the flatbread in the oven with the temperatire set to warm or the lowest level you have while you prepare the rice.

Cook your rice and add in the chickpeas before rice has absorbed all the water (repeat from above)

Cook the plantains in a frying pan, cast iron skillet or whichever pan you
choose.

Season as you choose. I used some hot sauce and peppercorn ranch dressing.

Enjoy!