lorax

There are several ways to approach these, depending on what type of banana or plantain you currently have in your kitchen, and how ripe they are.

Traditionally in Ecuador these are made with Verdes (green plantains) but I've also had them made with Maduros (ripe plantains) as a dessert.

You need:

1 Verde for each person who will eat the patacones
1 lb (454 g) of butter, unsalted is best
OR
2 cups of oil, your choice - pick something with a high smokepoint.
A wooden mallet, or a folding patacone striker (this is a hinged wooden board with a circular depression in one side, which is used to smash the patacones into shape)

Peel the verdes and slice them into 1" sections
Melt the butter in a deep saucepan, and transfer the sliced verdes into the fat, allowing them to fry gently for about 3 minutes.
Take the mostly-fried verdes out of the pan, one by one, and smash them flat with the mallet or patacone striker (you can also put a bunch of them on a wooden cutting board, and then smoosh them all at once by placing another board on top, and standing on it.)
Transfer the smashed patacones back into the fat and allow them to sizzle until golden.
Drain on wire racks or paper towels, serve hot.

In Ecuador, we serve these as a side dish for savoury meats, or on their own with Aji (hot sauce.)

If you're using ripe bananas for this (and you can make patacones with ripe dessert bananas) then I'd advocate adding cinnamon oil to the fat, then dusting the final product with a mixture of confectioner's sugar and cocoa.

Regardless of what type of banana you use, Patacones must be served hot hot hot - they get gross and starchy when they're cold.

Enjoy!