When is a Banana not a Banana?

When it’s Matoke (pronounced ma-toke-ay)

One of the national dishes of Uganda is Matoke. This is a type of savoury banana grown and eaten all over East Africa. To the novice it looks like an unripe, green  banana, but is even more popular here than the familiar sweet yellow banana.

 

 To cook Matoke the green skin has first to be peeled off with a knife to reveal the hard white centre.

The fruit is then wrapped in Banana leaves and steam cooked over a charcoal fire. The pans have to be regularly topped up with water as the cooking process takes about 7 hours.

 

Once soft the yellow pulp is mashed within the banana layer so that it looks like mashed potato or swedes.

 

For simple meals it is then served with a pink sauce made out of peanuts. For a better meal it is served with a range of vegetables, and for a luxury meal there is some meat!!!!

 

 This week, we had a luxury meal!

This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Liberia: “When bad luck calls your name, even a rotten banana can break your teeth”