I was wondering what to make for lunch on Saturday and my daughter Makamba, who came down from Canada on holiday,suggested semi ripe plantain pottage. She misses this a lot and remembers that it was a regular on the menu when she was in secondary school. So we ended up cooking together.
Nigerian Pottages or one pot cooking are so convenient and saves time in the kitchen whilst still delivering tasty and nutritious meals.
In 30 minutes we had actually rustled up a treat. I picked a few leaves of Ntong from my small back garden having forgotten to buy some from the market.
Ntong or Nchawun or Effirin with its minty aroma is just what you need to give this simple dish a kick.
Using the semi ripe plantain also gets children who are finicky eaters to enjoy family meals.
Plantains particularly the green ones are recommended for those with diabetics because it is one of those foods that will allow sugar to be released slowly giving the body time to process the sugars
In preparing this dish for a diabetic person therefore ,you can easily replace the semi ripe plantain with the green ones.
Each spoon on this Plantain pottage will earn you loads of lip smacking! I Got this and some bear hugs and fore head kisses from Makamba . I missed those though. I’m certain this recipe will earn you major points with the family….
How to make Plantain Pottage?
3 semi ripe Plantains
1 unripe Plantain
1/2 cup dressed Shrimps
6 pieces Bush meat or smoked fish
2 cooking spoons ground Tomato
1 teaspoon dried Pepper
1/2 Onion(chopped)
1 table spoon Crayfish powder
1 tablet crayfish seasoning
Handful chopped Ntong or Nchawun or Effirin leaves
1 cooking spoon palm oil
1 1/4 60 cl bottles Water
Salt to taste
Method
1, Peel, wash and cut plantain in medium size cubes into a pot
2, Add the water, tomato, onion,shrimp, bush meat, seasoning, pepper and bring to boil for about 15 minutes
3, Next goes in the crayfish powder and stir the pottage to help crush some of the plantain and thicken the sauce. Cook for 5 minutes
4, Add the oil and taste for salt, cook for 3 minutes stirring to further thicken the sauce if not thick enough
5,Finish off with the Ntong and turn off the heat. The heat will cook the vegetable
6, Serve hot.
Tip:
1,Using some unripe plantain helps to have a thick sauce faster.
2,Ground tomato gives the dish a nice red color and reduces your use of palm oil
Just wondering what other dishes can one create with unripe plantain in particular? I will like some suggestions. Please leave a comment below with some of your suggestions.
Nne you could also throw in some beans with this I think. Was wondering about the tomato until you explained that the color it adds helps cut down the need for more palm oil.