Mtsolola

Ingredients

The starches

• 6green cooking bananas
• peeled and cut in chunks
• 600 gcassava
• peeled and cut in chunks
• or breadfruit

The fish

• 600 gfirm white fish
• in large pieces
• or smoked fish
• juice of 1 lime
• salt

The pot

• 2onions, chopped
• 5garlic cloves, crushed
• 3cm ginger, grated
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoonsoil
• 400 mlthin coconut milk
• 400 mlthick coconut milk
• 1hot chilli, whole
• salt and black pepper

To serve

• in deep bowls
• with the broth
• lime wedges

Directions

1. Peel it thickly with a sharp knife. Cut away the pink layer beneath as well. It must be cooked right through. Pull it out once the cassava is soft. Cut the ends off with a knife first. Score the skin lengthways in three places. It also makes them sticky for hours.
2. Oil your hands before you start. Thin coconut milk cooks the starches. Peel the cassava thickly with a knife. Cut down through it with a knife. Take off the pink layer beneath as well. Cutting it is straightforward enough. Cut the peeled cassava into large chunks. Put them into cold water as you go. Cut the ends off each green banana.
3. Score the skin lengthways in three places. Cutting them is straightforward enough. Cut the peeled bananas into thick chunks. Put them into water as you go. Water keeps them pale until they cook.
4. Cut the fish into large pieces. Rub salt and lime juice over them. Let them sit for fifteen minutes. Salt firms the surface of the flesh. That helps it hold together in the stew. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot. Add the chopped onions in to it. Cook them for a good eight minutes. Add the crushed garlic and grated ginger. Cook them for two more full minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pot.
5. Cook them down for about six minutes. The tomato should soften and break down. Cook it until it goes quite jammy. Add the cassava chunks to the pot. Add all the green banana chunks. Pour in the thin coconut milk. Add the whole chilli carefully. Season it with salt and black pepper. Simmering it takes about thirty minutes.
6. Bring it up to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for about thirty minutes. Coconut milk splits if boiled hard. Keep it at a bare simmer throughout. Small bubbles should barely break the surface.
7. Cook it longer if it resists at all. Lift the cassava chunks out briefly. Pull out the fibrous central cords. Return the cassava to the pot. It takes a moment and is worth doing. Lay the fish pieces on top of it. Do not stir the pot hard after this.
8. Shake the pot instead of stirring it. Cooking the fish takes ten minutes. Cover it and let it simmer gently. Give the fish about ten minutes. Pour in the thick coconut milk. Shake the pot to distribute it. Let it warm through for five minutes. The thick milk must not boil at all.
9. Take the pot off as soon as it is hot. Judging it takes a careful look. Lift the whole chilli out carefully. Discard it entirely before serving. Taste it and adjust the salt as needed. It needs more salt than expected. Taste it properly right at the end. Serving it is always done hot. Ladle it out into deep warm bowls. Ladle plenty of broth into each bowl. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• Cassava contains cyanogenic compounds and is dangerous raw: peel it thickly with a knife including the pink layer beneath the skin, and cook it right through — the long simmer here does that job, and it must be soft with no resistance to a knife. Pull the fibrous central cord out once it is soft.
• The thin coconut milk simmers the starches and the thick goes in only at the end to warm through, since thick coconut milk splits with long cooking. Keep the pot at a bare simmer throughout, and shake it rather than stirring once the fish is in, since fish breaks up very easily.
• These are green cooking bananas, starchy rather than sweet — a ripe one would be wrong entirely. They will not peel like ripe bananas: cut the ends off, score the skin lengthways in three places and prise it off in strips, oiling your hands first since the sap stains badly.

Substitutions

• Breadfruit stands in for the cassava where it is in season.
• Smoked fish in place of fresh gives a deeper savoury result.

Variations

• Coconut milk replaces oil across Comorian cooking, providing the fat as well as the liquid — a technique shared with the Swahili coast.
• The whole chilli goes in unpierced for aroma without heat and is lifted out before serving.
• The broth is part of the dish rather than drained away, and is spooned up with everything else.

History

Green banana, cassava and fish stewed together in coconut milk, a one-pot village dish of Grande Comore.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mtsolola?

Mtsolola is a soup & stew from Comoros: green bananas, cassava and fish stewed in coconut milk. Green banana, cassava and fish stewed together in coconut milk, a one-pot village dish of Grande Comore.

How long does Mtsolola take to make?

Mtsolola takes 40 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Mtsolola?

Yes, within limits. Breadfruit stands in for the cassava where it is in season. Smoked fish in place of fresh gives a deeper savoury result.

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

Peel it thickly with a sharp knife. Cut away the pink layer beneath as well. It must be cooked right through. Pull it out once the cassava is soft. Cut the ends off with a knife first. Score the skin lengthways in three places. It also makes them sticky for hours.