Tropical Fruit & Black Bean Salsa w/ Plantain Chips

COURSE #1 This is a great, and I mean GREAT, recipe for a salsa. It requires a fair amount of ingredients and lots of knife use, so if you have someone on hand that's good w/ a knife take advantage, otherwise take your time and do your best. Faster chopping doesn't produce better results. I have made this at least 10-15 times and each time it gets killed in no time. Its healthy if that's what you're into, looks good, has a nice texture, and the flavor is...great. Def one of my go-tos.

Salsa
1-1/2 cups black beans, cooked and soft (one 15oz. can rinsed and drained can work)
1 mango, diced
1 habanero or scotch bonnet pepper, minced
1 shallot, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/2 orange, sectioned and roughly chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, roasted
1 avocado whole (should be chopped last to keep from browning due to oxidation)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Dressing for salsa
1 shallot, diced
1/4 orange, juice only (eat remaining 1/4 orange)
2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin (if you toast and grind whole cumin I'm proud of you)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Chips
2 plantains (don't get black or soft yellow ones, they burn too easily due to a higher sugar content - the greenish yellow ones worked great for me here, they're starchier)
frying oil of your choice (I used canola)

1. Roast your red bell pepper if not already done. Remove any seeds and place in hot oven, set to broil, 6" from broiler skin side up. Remove bell pepper after the majority of the skin has blackened. Alternatively, if you have a gas stove, you can char the skin over the flame until the skin is mostly black.
2. While bell pepper is roasting prep the ingredients per the ingredients list (chop, dice, etc.).
3. Place the hot bell pepper in a paper bag, plastic bag, or in a bowl. Then either roll up bag to make airtight or cover bowl w/ towel or plastic wrap to keep steam in. This takes about 10 minutes.
4. While waiting for the pepper, combine all ingredients under 'dressing' in a medium to large sized bowl and whisk until oil has dispersed into tiny droplets.
5. Remove bell pepper skin, then dice bell pepper.
6. Place all ingredients under 'salsa' in dressing bowl, including chopped avocado.
7. Use very clean hands or a spoon to very gently toss to coat dressing on salsa.
8. Taste to ensure the goodness, then cover and put in fridge to let flavors combine and to make plantain chips.
9. Heat oil in a wide saute pan for frying. I used approx 1/2" of canola oil.
10. Peel plantains, then slice very thinly. I would not recommend using a knife. Either use a mandolin or a vegetable peeler. I tried both and the vegetable peeler was a littler trickier and also created a thinner, more fragile chip. The mandolin worked great, just be careful when you get toward the end of slicing a plantain. Nobody wants to eat chips made from your hand skin.
11. Place slices of plantain in hot oil, preferably 350 degrees F. Try not to overlap slices and also lay them in the shape you want them (once they fry you can't bend them into a different shape or they'll break). Once golden brown, 2-5 minutes, remove to a paper towel lined plate. Salt while still hot if you want, but I didn't.
12. Eat chips w/ salsa. Say yum.