Ugandan recipe
How to make Matooke
Amatooke
Central and southern Uganda, above all Buganda
Green cooking bananas, peeled, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed for a long time until soft, then mashed into a smooth yellow mound. It is served with groundnut sauce, beans, meat or fish stew, and is considered a national dish.
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 green cooking bananas (matooke, or green plantains if you cannot find them)
- A few banana leaves (from Asian or African grocers) or baking paper and foil
- Water for steaming
- A little oil for your hands and knife (the sap is sticky)
- Salt (optional)
Method
- Oil your hands and knife, then peel the bananas: cut off both ends, slit the skin lengthwise and lift it off. Put the peeled bananas in a bowl of cold water so they do not turn brown.
- Line a large pot with a rack or a few banana stalks, add about 3 cm of water, and lay banana leaves over the rack so they hang over the sides.
- Put the bananas on the leaves, fold the leaves over to make a tight parcel, cover with more leaves and the lid.
- Steam on low heat for about 45 minutes, topping up the water now and then, until the bananas are soft.
- Keeping them in the leaves, press and squeeze the parcel with your hands (use a cloth, it is hot) until the bananas are mashed. Steam for 15 more minutes and serve with groundnut sauce.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Matooke is not a plantain but its own group of East African Highland bananas, harvested green and always cooked.
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