Kenyan cuisine

Passport & Plate - Green bananas and beef stew

Kenya | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 2 photos

Ingredients
For the green bananas:
3 green bananas, 3 tablespoons of freshly chopped coriander, 1/2 clove of garlic, 1 red onion, 1 tomato.
For the cabbage:
1/4 of a cabbage, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, 1/2 a green pepper, salt and pepper to taste.
For the beef stew:
1/4 kg beef, salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 2 tomatoes, 1/2 a clove of garlic, 1 red onion, 2 tablespoons paprika.
For the salad:
4 Grated carrots, 1/2 a ripe mango, 1/2 cup of vanilla yoghurt, handful of skinned peanuts.

 

How to prepare this recipe
For the green bananas:
Peel and cut the bananas into small pieces. Place them in a pan with just enough water to cover half of them. Add the chopped coriander, tomatoes, garlic and red onion, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Keep adding a little water as they cook, just enough to keep them from burning. Once yellow and soft, turn off the heat and cook on low heat till most of the water has evaporated.
For the beef stew:
Cut up the meat into cubes. Place into a pan, add salt, pepper, chopped garlic, red onion and rosemary, paprika and enough water to cover the meat and bring to a boil. Let the meat cook till it's tender. Add the chopped tomatoes and a little water. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
For the cabbage:
Cut up the cabbage. Heat up a little oil in a pan. Add the cabbage and chopped green pepper. Add salt and pepper and tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes.
For the salad:
Peel and grate carrots and place grated carrots into a salad bowl. Cut a mango into half. Peel one half and cut up into small chunks. Add the mango to the carrots. Pour yoghurt(best if it's cold) into the mix and a handful of skinned peanuts. Mix well.
Plate a generous serving and enjoy!

 

The story behind this recipe
Green bananas are a staple food in Kenya, especially in the country where my parents were brought up. I love potatoes and I cannot lie! However, this love has led to an unhealthy eating lifestyle that I've been trying to kick. My dad went upcountry last year and brought us from the farm among other things, two sackfulls of green bananas. We were forced to eat them daily so they wouldn't go bad and so began a month of breakfast, lunch and dinner featuring green bananas. Green bananas are generally just boiled and eaten, nothing too fancy. There still delicious that way but I felt I could a little umph to it. My sister, mom and I begun to make varieties in dishes paring them with potatoes, cassava and even pumpkin. I loved the recipe with the rosemary beef stew, steamed cabbage and carrot salad best. I don't add much oil to my cooking and in some dishes I add none at all as in the beef stew. At first I thought the food wouldn't taste as good, but it's still quite delicious. We all contributed to creating the flavours in each part of the dish and it's definitely a family favourite. It's a simple dish but very delicious. I dare say, I love green bananas more than I love potatoes now!