Concise African Cooking Notes - Recipe 2: Mbalaga, a Mixture of Cooked Green Bananas and Beef

Ingredients:

• 8 green bananas (matoke)
• 500g beef
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 onions
• 5 beans of garlic
• 1 lemon squeeze
• 1 Pepper (Pilipili mbuzi) optional
• Salt to taste
• Cooking oil

Preparations:

1. Peel bananas and then cut into 5 pieces each
2. Wash tomatoes and then chop them into very thin cubes
3. Peel the onions and chop
4. Wash and chop pilipili mbuzi
5. Squeeze the lemon
6. Cut meat into small cubes then boil until tender

Cooking:

1. Put bananas in a sauce pan add water until level and put to boil under maximum regulo;
2. Immediately add tomatoes, onions pepper, salt and oil into the bananas and place a lid and leave to cook for about 15 minutes;
3. While bananas are cooking prepare a beef stew by frying onions, tomatoes and garlic until tender and then add beef and beef stock. Leave to simmer for five minutes;
4. After 15 minutes of boiling bananas, then add beef stew in number 3 above;
5. Leave to cook for another 10 minutes or until cooked;

Serving:

1. Serve while hot. The amount prepared is for 4 people.

Mbalaga is a Nyakyusa traditional foods usually prepared to special people of special occasion or can be eaten everyday depend on ones preference.