Mtori

Ingredients

Meat

• 700 gbeef shin or short ribs, on the bone
• 1onion
• 2 litreswater
• salt

Plantain

• 8green cooking bananas, or green plantains
• juice of 1 lemon

Pot

• 2 tbspoil or butter
• 1onion, chopped
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• 3 clovesgarlic
• 1carrot, diced, optional

To finish

• 100 mlmilk or cream, optional
• salt and black pepper
• coriander

To serve

• on its own, in bowls

Directions

1. Simmer the beef with the whole onion and salt for about an hour, skimming, until it is tender and the broth is rich. Take the time over the broth. It carries the whole soup and a quick stock leaves mtori tasting thin.
2. Cut the ends off, score the skin lengthways in two or three places, and lever the peel away with a knife under running water. Peel them under water or with oiled hands, because green banana sap is sticky and stains skin and clothes black.
3. Drop the peeled bananas straight into water with lemon juice. They discolour within a minute of being exposed to air, and the acidulated water keeps them pale.
4. Cut them into chunks and add them to the simmering broth. Meanwhile fry the chopped onion, garlic and tomato in the oil until soft, and add that to the pot.
5. Simmer 25 to 30 minutes until the banana is completely soft and beginning to break down. Now mash or blend the soup, and how far you take it is the choice.
6. Lift the beef out before blending, pull it from the bone, and return the meat to the pot afterwards. Stir in the milk if you want it richer, and warm it through gently without boiling.
7. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper, and scatter coriander over. It should be thick, smooth and pale, closer to a purée than to a broth.

Technique

• Green cooking bananas are sold in African and Caribbean shops as matoke or green banana.
• It thickens a great deal as it cools and is loosened with hot broth.
• It is often made with the meat left in large pieces so each bowl gets some.

Substitutions

• Green plantain in place of cooking banana, which is starchier but works.
• Any long-cooking beef cut on the bone.

Variations

• Made without meat, as a plain banana soup.
• With smoked meat for a deeper flavour.
• Left chunky rather than blended.

History

A Chagga soup of green banana boiled with beef until smooth, cooked on Kilimanjaro’s slopes for new mothers and the sick.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mtori?

Mtori is a soup & stew from Tanzania: chagga plantain-and-beef puree soup from Kilimanjaro. A Chagga soup of green banana boiled with beef until smooth, cooked on Kilimanjaro’s slopes for new mothers and the sick.

How long does Mtori take to make?

Mtori takes 25 min of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Mtori?

Yes, within limits. Green plantain in place of cooking banana, which is starchier but works. Any long-cooking beef cut on the bone.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mtori?

Simmer the beef with the whole onion and salt for about an hour, skimming, until it is tender and the broth is rich. Take the time over the broth. It carries the whole soup and a quick stock leaves mtori tasting thin.