Plantain and vegetable may sound not to familiar to you but however, Plantain is a common staple food in most tropical areas and West and East Africa. It can be eaten in various ways; most people prefer to fry it, while others find it better when boiled. Plantains can be eaten in an unripe or ripe state – either way, they are of nutritional benefit to the body. Unripe plantain is most preferred and recommended for people with diabetes or trying to prevent weight gain, while ripe plantain contains enough vitamin C to help control your immune response, which keeps illness at bay. Several important immune system responses rely on vitamin A, also found in plantain, to perform correctly.
In Nigeria, plantain can be cooked in various ways. Some of them are: pottage plantain, plantain and egg, plantain and yam, and many others. In this article, I will be showing you a simple plantain recipe you should try: plantain and vegetable sauce.
INGRIDIENT NEEDED
- Unripe plantain
- Vegetables (Ugwu)
- Fresh Pepper
- Seasonings
- Fish
- Spoon
- Knife
- Water
- Palm oil
- vegetables
HOW TO PREPARE THE VEGETABLE SAUCE
- Rinse a small amount of fresh pepper and grate it with onion.
- Rinse your vegetables (Ugwu) and then dice.
- Debone the fish and rinse it and seasoning.
- Put it on the cooker, add seasoning, and boil.
- When it has boiled, separate the water from the fish, saving the water to use later on.
- Put pot on the cooker and pour a spoon of palm oil and let it bleach for about a minute.
- Pour in the grated pepper and onion and allow them to fry a little.
- Add half cup of water and the water that was used to boil the fish which already contains seasonings. Stir, and allow it to steam – then you can taste to see if it needs more seasoning.
- Let it to steam for 1 more minute then add the fish and anything else you would like to garnish the vegetables.
- Allow it to steam for another minute then pour in the diced vegetables and stir thoroughly to blend with the pepper. Cover the pot, steam for 1 minute, then the vegetables are ready to be served.
HOW TO PREPARE THE PLANTAIN
- Peel the unripe plantain (it might be a little difficult to peel because it is not ripe).
- Slice the plantain into small portions (for instance, divide one plantain into four parts).
- Rinse it, put it in a pot, and add sufficient water to cover the plantain.
- Put it on the cooker, bring to boil, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Use a fork to prick it to test and, once it is soft, turn off the heat.
- Quickly remove the plantain from the pot of water ant put onto a plate.
- You can then serve it with the vegetable and enjoy.
If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, you might like to have a look at my recent recipe How to Make Akara and Pap