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Street Classic · Fried plantain

Aloco

Aloco — street food from Ivory Coast
📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

Sweet, ripe plantain gets a spicy kick — Ivory Coast's answer to fries is dipped in chili, not ketchup.

Aloco is ripe plantain sliced and deep-fried until the outside caramelizes and the inside turns soft and sweet, then topped with a spicy sauce made from blended chili, onion, and tomato. Street vendors often serve it alongside grilled fish or a hard-boiled egg for a more filling snack.

Why it's made this way: Ripe plantains are abundant and cheap across Ivory Coast, and frying them is a quick way for roadside vendors to turn the fruit into a hot, ready-to-eat snack — the fiery sauce balances the plantain's natural sweetness and turns it into something more than dessert.

Roughly what's in it

350kcal
4gprotein
60gcarbs
12gfat
Estimated per typical street-vendor portion — not lab-tested.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.