The market · Fruit · West Africa, The Americas
Plantains
A starchy cooking banana, used at every stage from hard green to soft and black.
mealy · sweet
What to do with it
GujaratiUndhiyuA winter medley of flat beans, purple yam, sweet potato, baby aubergine and plantain, slow-cooked with fenugreek dumplings and a green masala of coconut and coriander.No one here has made it yetGoanKhatkhateA thick stew of many vegetables and toor dal in coconut, soured with tamarind and sharpened with tirphal — the dish of Goan Hindu festivals.No one here has made it yetMexicanMole negroOaxaca's black mole: chilhuacle and other dried chillies toasted almost to char, ground with nuts, seeds, fruit, spice and chocolate into a near-black sauce.No one here has made it yetMexicanChiles en nogadaRoasted poblano chillies stuffed with a picadillo of meat and fruit, under a cold walnut cream and scattered with pomegranate and parsley.No one here has made it yet
Kinds
- Green
- Starchy like potato — boiled, or fried as tostones and chips.
- Yellow
- Sweet and starchy — fried as dodo.
- Black
- Sweetest and softest, for mashing and baking.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- African, Caribbean and Latin grocers. Buy green and let it ripen to the stage you want.
- Worth knowing
- Peel green ones by cutting off the ends and slitting the skin along its ridges.
