Rodajas (Coin Cuts)

Applied to a broad family of round-to-oval vegetables and starchy fruits common in Latin American cuisines: green and ripe plantain (plátano macho and plátano maduro), chayote (vegetable pear), nopales stems cut differently from paddle strips, yuca (cassava), zucchini (calabacitas), cucumber for ceviches and agua fresca garnish, and beets. The technique is also applied to citrus for garnish (ruedas de limón).

1. 1Peel the vegetable if required (plantain, yuca, beet) or scrub clean if skin is edible (zucchini, cucumber).
2. 2Trim the ends flat and square. Place the vegetable on the board with one flat end down for stability.
3. 3Using a sharp chef's knife, cut straight down perpendicular to the vegetable's length. Keep the blade perfectly vertical — any angle produces oval or parallelogram slices rather than true rounds.
4. 4For consistency, use a ruler or chef's ring cutter as a spacing guide on the first few cuts until your eye is calibrated to the target thickness.
5. 5For green plantain tostones: cut 2 cm thick rounds. Fry at 160°C until just tender but not crisp (3–4 minutes), remove, smash flat to 6–7 mm with a tostonera or flat-bottomed glass, then return to 190°C oil for the second fry.
6. 6For ripe plantain maduros: cut 1–1.5 cm thick on a slight bias for a larger face; fry at 175°C until caramelized deep gold, approximately 2 minutes per side. The natural sugars brown rapidly — watch carefully.

• A sharp, wide blade — 20 cm chef's knife or Chinese cleaver — prevents the vegetable from rocking as you cut, producing more consistent thickness than a narrow boning knife
• For plantain: score the skin along its ridges and peel by hand rather than using a peeler — the skin is thick and fibrous
• For chayote: the seed (which is edible and nutty) can be left in the center round or removed with a melon baller after slicing
• For yuca: quarter lengthwise first to remove the fibrous central core, then cut the quarters into arc-shaped rodajas rather than true rounds
• For beets: wear gloves and cut on a surface you can stain — beet juice is a persistent dye

• Diagonal bias cut

  Produces oval slices with more surface area — appropriate when more browning per slice is wanted; changes the visual presentation

• Half-moon cut (media luna)

  Halve the vegetable lengthwise first, then cross-cut — for large chayote or oversized cucumber where full rounds are unwieldy

• Roll cut / oblique cut

  More surface area per piece for braising applications; the roll cut is preferred over rodajas when maximum liquid absorption is the goal

• Rondelle (French)

  The direct French equivalent — term used interchangeably in European-trained kitchens; functionally identical

• Coin cut

  English culinary school term for the same perpendicular cross-section, especially for carrots and celery

• Media luna (half-moon)

  Rodaja halved; used when full round cross-sections produce pieces too large for the dish context

• Diagonal slice / bias cut

  Angled cousin to the rodaja — same single-cut motion but at 30–45 degrees to the axis, producing oval faces

1. 1.Gran Cocina Latina — Maricel Presilla
2. 2.Secrets of Colombian Cooking — Patricia McCausland-Gallo
3. 3.My Mexico — Diana Kennedy
4. 4.The Food and Cooking of the Caribbean, Central and South America — Jenni Fleetwood

Confidence: high