Let me tell you something you might not know about bananas:
While bananas are still green/unripe, their taste is quite neutral. Only as they ripen does the sweet taste that we know from bananas develop.
While still green, they can be cooked, grilled, or fried, and served as a side dish, similar to boiled potatoes or plantains. Or, as I will show you today, you can prepare them as a stew.
I've already mentioned that I can't stand the sight of another banana. That doesn't apply to Topsi Banana, aka Bananes malaxées.
Almost everyone who grew up in Cameroon, or even better, lived in the Littoral Region, knows this dish.
The original recipe uses Mbounga (a very inexpensive type of dried fish) instead of meat, or just dried crayfish, or even a vegetarian version.
Therefore, Topsi Banana was once considered poor people's food. The ingredients were few and quite inexpensive.
Over time, the recipe became increasingly popular, especially among Cameroonians in the diaspora, and was therefore upgraded with fish and/or meat or other ingredients.
I'm sharing my recipe with you again, as I've reinterpreted it. The result is a culinary journey back to my childhood in Loum.
Have fun cooking!
The ingredients
- 5 green unripe bananas
- 1/2 Smoked Chicken
- 200g precooked and peeled peanuts
- Approximately 100ml palm oil
- Approximately 20g of dried crayfish (Madjanga)
- 2 onions
- 1 finger of ginger
- 1 tbsp Magic Sauce
- Salt
- Approximately 1 liter of water
The preparation
Step 1
First, peel and wash the bananas, then cut each into three pieces. Next, wash and cut the chicken into pieces as well. Then, peel and roughly chop an onion and the ginger, and blend them together with the peanuts in a food processor.
Step 2
Add the other onion and salt to a pot with palm oil and sauté briefly. Be careful that the palm oil doesn't get too hot, otherwise it will start to smoke.
Add the chicken and roast for another 2 minutes, add about half of the crayfish and fry for about 2 minutes.
Then add the pureed peanuts, cover with water, stir well and simmer covered for about 15 minutes
Step 3
Add the bananas, the magic sauce, and the remaining crayfish. Stir well and simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes. Then season to taste and it's ready.
Video Summary
Et voilà! Bon appétit!
Topsi Banana | Banana stew with smoked chicken
Ingredients
- 5 Green unripe bananas
- 1/2 Smoked chicken
- 200 g pre-cooked and peeled peanuts
- 100 ml palm oil
- 20g Dried River Crayfish (Madjanga) Available everywhere in Afro shops
- 2 onions
- 1 piece of finger ginger
- 1 tbsp Magic Sauce Link to Magic Sauce
- Salt
- Water
Instructions
- Peel, wash, and cut the bananas into three pieces each. Wash the chicken and cut it into pieces.
- Peel and roughly chop the onions and ginger.
- Blend an onion, the ginger, and the peanuts in a blender
- Add the other onion and salt to a pot with palm oil and roast briefly
- Add the chicken and roast for another 2 minutes
- Then add about half of the crayfish and fry for about 2 minutes
- Then add the pureed peanuts, cover with water, stir well and simmer covered for about 15 minutes
- Add the bananas, the magic sauce, and the rest of the crayfish
- Stir well and simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes. Then season to taste and it's ready
