Plantain recipes
Plantain is a starchy variety of banana that is eaten as a starchy vegetable when unripe (green), or in sweet and savoury dishes when it is ripe and sweeter. Most are larger and slightly more angular in shape than ‘sweet’ bananas. They can be green, yellow, pink or very dark in colour depending on their variety and ripeness.
Traditionally a red-red stew is made with palm oil and tomatoes. We’ve updated this version of the common Ghanaian dish to use vegetable oil.
More plantain recipes
Buyer's guide
Some supermarkets sell plantains; they’re also sold in ethnic markets.
Preparation
Plantains are cooked green, semi-ripe or fully-ripe. Treat them like a starchy vegetable and use in savoury or sweet dishes. Before cooking, peel by top and tailing the fruit, then cut along the angles of the skin and pull the skin away in strips.
Plantains can be simmered in soup or turned into mash, but their subtle taste is maximised by roasting or frying. They act as a foil to rich flavours such as spicy meat or bean stews. Salted fried plantain chips are a popular snack in the Caribbean.
