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”

Fighting for Survival

Just a couple of examples of life struggling to continue.

A few weeks ago we commented on how quickly a new road can be cut through the forest (May 4^th 2014 – ‘The Intrepid Explore’). This week we noticed that already the banana trees are re-establishing themselves as new shoots have broken through the previous destruction.

 

 
In the hospital a mission couple have recently fostered an abandoned baby. Lana was born at the end of January, at about 27 weeks old and weighing less than 2 pounds. Anywhere else in Uganda probably she would not have survived. Fortunately the hospital has a well equipped babies; intensive care unit and with love and attention she is now doing well.

 This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Uganda: “It is survival, not bravery that makes a man climb a thorny tree”