10 Interesting Ways to Cook Plantain

In whatever state you find your plantain- unripe, ripe or overripe, there’s always something to make of it.

1. Plantain chips.

To make the favourite crisp and crunchy chips, you’ll need unripe plantains. Cut them thinly, into long or round shapes, season with salt (and pepper) and deep fry.[separator type=”thin”]

2. Fried plantain (dodo).

A household name. For variety, cut into different shapes every other time or for every other meal. Always fry in already heating oil. And remember it’s only healthy to drain off excess oil in a colander.[separator type=”thin”]

3. Boiled plantain.

If you want to eat with stew, boil them in their skin so the nutrients are not lost. You can cut them into two or three to make them boil faster. And yes, you’ll enjoy boiled plantain with rice if you want to keep away as much as possible from fried foods.[separator type=”thin”]

4. Roasted plantain (bole).

Is there something spectacular flavour grilling with charcoal impacts on the bole? If you really want to make bole, you can bake it in your indoor oven. But for special times, there’s still something grand about the local way, we agree.[separator type=”thin”]

5. Plantain flour.

This is especially healthy for persons with diabetic conditions. Peel and cut unripe plantains into small chunks so they can dry easily. When they are properly dried, grind them into powder at the mill (I’m not sure if your table top mill or food processor can do this perfectly, I’m certain about the traditional market mill). You can then make the flour into swallow just like the Semovita^® or Poundo^® yam.[separator type=”thin”]

6. Plantain fritters.

Don’t toss your overripe plantains away yet, you can make fritters (pancakes) with them. There are different recipes online. You may try this recipe by African Bites. [separator type=”thin”]

7. Plantain porridge.

You can make vegetable plantain porridge with slightly unripe or not-so-ripe plantains.[separator type=”thin”]

8. Ukodo.

This is plantain and yam pepper soup prepared by the Urhobo people of Delta State. Dora George explains how to make the Ukodo this with goat meat, crayfish, and local herbs.[separator type=”thin”]

9. Plantain salad imoyo.

Many thanks to Ozoz Sokoh of Kitchen Butterfly for this Brazilian recipe. The ingredients comprise olive oil, lime, cucumber, salt, sugar and different types of peppers! Kindly get the full gist here.[separator type=”thin”]

10. Plantain with beans.

There are a variety of ways to cook beans and different foods you can combine it with, and the plantain can be used in place of yam or potatoes. Find out about more ways to cook beans here.

I know there are lots of other ways to cook plantain. To add to this list, let’s see your comments.

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nnenna

Nnenna is an editor and writer at Connect Nigeria. She loves fine art, books and places.

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