How to cook Matoke

How to cook Matoke – Cooking Bananas or Plantains

Matoke/Plantains is one of the Traditional main dishes in south western Kenya to the Kisii community which consists of steamed green cooking bananas. This starchy dish also counts to one of National dishes in Uganda and other countries in east Africa.
Matoke / Plantains can either be cooked separately and served with a stew or as one dish including other ingredients e.g Vegetables, Potatoes or beef.
Here is one of my favorite simple and quick recipe to prepare Matoke.

Enjoy!

Ingredients
For smashed Matoke you need;
8-10 Matoke/Plantain – peeled, coarsely chopped and washed
1 hand full of peanuts, crushed to powder like (or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter)
1 tablespoon butter (optional, i use it for them to be more tender)
1/2 cup fresh dairy milk (optional)
2 cups of water to boil
Salt to taste

For the Beef stew you need;
1 kilo Beef, cubed
4 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups of beef broth or water
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 fresh ginger, minced or crushed
2 fresh tomatoes, sliced
Fresh coriander
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 table spoon of royco mchuzi mix
*Other Vegetables like carrots, and pepperoni may also be added.

Directions
Smashed Matoke/Plantain
Put Matoke/Plantain in a pan, add water and salt and bring them to boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook them till tender but not mushy for about 20 minutes. You can check if they are cooked by piercing with a fork.
Once they are done, drain them and add milk, butter and crushed peanuts/peanut butter if any. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute then smash them lightly. Serve with beef stew.

Beef Stew

First boil beef with ginger for 10-15 minutes (I always do this for the meat to be tender)
Separate broth from meat and set both aside – you’ll need the broth later for the stew
Heat vegetable oil and on a medium heat fry onions and garlic till light brown. Add beef and continue frying till it starts to brown.
Add tomatoes (and the rest of the vegetables if any). Stir the mixture very well and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.

Now add the broth/water, salt, freshly grounded pepper and royco mchuzi mix to test. Cover the pot and on low gentle heat, let it cook for 30-45 minutes. Stir in between.
When the beef stew is done, switch off the heat, add fresh coriander and place the lid back. This way the coriander will be cooked by the steam hence giving your stew a very good taste.
Serve hot with Matoke.