Ibitoke

Ingredients

Bananas

• 8green cooking bananas, ibitoke
• oil for your hands

Base

• 1onion, chopped
• 3 clovesgarlic
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tbspred palm oil or vegetable oil
• 1 tspsalt

Sometimes

• 300 gcooked red beans, with their liquid
• a few leeks or spring onions
• a little smoked fish

To serve

• with beans, ibiharage
• or with meat stew and greens

Directions

1. Rub your hands and the knife blade with oil before you start. Cut off both ends, then score the skin lengthways in two or three places without cutting into the flesh.
2. Work the skin off in strips with your thumb or the back of the knife. Now drop each peeled banana straight into a bowl of cold salted water. Cut them into two or three pieces each once peeled. Now the cooking, and there are two ways it is done.
3. Fry the onion in oil over a medium heat until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook it briefly without letting it colour. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook them down for five to eight minutes into a thick base.
4. Cook the tomatoes down properly rather than briefly, since a watery base gives a thin and characterless result. It is quite different from refined palm oil and is sold in African shops, and any vegetable oil works if you cannot find it.
5. Add water to come about halfway up the bananas, and season with salt. Use less water than seems right, since the bananas release moisture and the finished dish should be thick rather than soupy.
6. Cover and simmer gently for thirty to forty minutes. Keep it at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil, which breaks the pieces apart. Turn them once or twice during cooking so they colour evenly in the sauce. They are ready when a knife goes in with no resistance and they have turned from white to a pale yellow.
7. Taste and season, and add a little more salt than you expect to need. Serve it hot, spooned onto a plate with beans, greens or a meat stew.

Technique

• The bananas must be completely green and unripe.
• Oil your hands before peeling, since the sap stains stubbornly.
• Beans are the standard partner across the region.

Substitutions

• Green plantains, which are close and widely available.
• Vegetable oil in place of red palm oil.

Variations

• Boiled plain, as the everyday version.
• Cooked with smoked fish in the sauce.
• Mashed after cooking, closer to Ugandan matoke.

History

Green cooking bananas boiled or steamed as the daily starch of Rwanda’s banana belt, distinct from the sweet dessert varieties.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ibitoke?

Ibitoke is a salad & side from Burundi: green bananas boiled or stewed, served with beans. Green cooking bananas boiled or steamed as the daily starch of Rwanda’s banana belt, distinct from the sweet dessert varieties.

How long does Ibitoke take to make?

Ibitoke takes 20 min of preparation and 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Ibitoke?

Yes, within limits. Green plantains, which are close and widely available. Vegetable oil in place of red palm oil.

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

Cook the tomatoes down properly rather than briefly, since a watery base gives a thin and characterless result. It is quite different from refined palm oil and is sold in African shops, and any vegetable oil works if you cannot find it.