Street Stall · Plantain & Cheese Ball
Bala de Verde
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The mashed plantain ball is served plain, without frying, letting the natural starchiness of the green plantain itself hold the cheese filling together.
Boiled green plantain is mashed and shaped around a core of melted cheese into a dense ball, sometimes lightly toasted. Street stalls in Esmeraldas sell them as an inexpensive, filling snack.
Why it's made this way: The bala de verde reflects Esmeraldas's plantain-heavy Afro-Ecuadorian coastal diet, a simpler cousin to Manabí's more elaborate corviche.
More from Ecuador
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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