Caribbean crisps with avocado salsa

Serves 4-6

Caribbean crisps with avocado salsa (Jason Lowe)

These are great to have with drinks or as a simple pre-dinner snack. You can serve them with different salsas or a classic guacamole.

1 plantain
1 large sweet potato, peeled
1 taro
Vegetable or corn oil for deep frying
1tsp salt mixed with ½tsp cayenne pepper or pimenton

For the avocado salsa

1 ripe avocado
1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
2-3 tbsp of olive oil
Salt

Slice the vegetables lengthways on a mandolin or with the slicer on the side of a grater. If the vegetables are large, you can cut them in half lengthways before slicing.

Preheat about 8cm of oil to 160-180C in a large, thick-bottomed saucepan or electric deep-fat fryer. Fry about 8-10 slices of the plantains at a time, turning them occasionally with a slotted spoon, for 3-4 minutes, until they're crisp but not coloured too much.

Depending on the ripeness of the plantains, the time they take to cook can vary. Remove them from the fat with the slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Repeat with the rest of the plantains and dust with the salt and cayenne mixture.

To make the avocado salsa, peel the avocados and remove the stone. Finely chop the flesh and mix it with the chilli, spring onion and lime. Add enough olive oil to bind it into a stiff, spooning-consistency mixture, then season with salt.

Serve the salsa in a dipping bowl with a spoon, surrounded by the plantain crisps.