Nthochi

Ingredients

The bananas

• 5very ripe bananas
• heavily speckled or black
• mashed

The batter

• 300 gplain flour
• 150 gsugar
• 120 gbutter, melted
• or oil
• 2eggs
• 2 teaspoonsbaking powder
• 1/2 teaspoonbicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt

The groundnuts

• 150 groasted groundnuts
• roughly chopped

Sometimes added

• 1 teaspoonvanilla
• grated nutmeg
• a little cinnamon

Directions

1. Peel all the very ripe bananas. Mash them thoroughly in a bowl. Mash them until they are quite smooth. Large chunks stay wet in the bread. Chop the roasted groundnuts roughly. Leave all of them fairly coarse. They must be roasted rather than raw.
2. Roast them yourself if they are raw. A dry pan for ten minutes does it. Set aside a handful for the top. Grease a large loaf tin thoroughly. Line the base with baking paper. Grease all of the sides as well. Put the flour in a large bowl.
3. Add the baking powder and bicarbonate. Add the salt in to them as well. Stir them together thoroughly. The raising agents must be distributed. Whisk the dry mixture properly first. Combining the wet is the next step.
4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Add the sugar and beat them together. Add the melted butter to them. Add the mashed banana as well. The wet ingredients are combined first. Pour the wet mixture into the dry. Fold it together with a spoon. Fold it rather than beating it. Stop as soon as the flour disappears.
5. Fold most of the groundnuts through. Keep the reserved handful back. Fold them in with a few turns. Do not stir them in vigorously. Pour the batter into the lined tin. Scatter the reserved nuts over it. Heat the oven to one hundred and seventy degrees.
6. Bake it for about a full hour. A dense wet batter needs a moderate oven. Cover it loosely with foil if it darkens. Do that after about forty minutes. Let it cool in the tin for fifteen minutes. Turning it out hot breaks it apart. Turn it out onto a wire cooling rack. Peel the paper off from the base. Let it cool completely on the rack. It slices far more cleanly when cold.
7. Warm banana bread crumbles as you cut it. Give it at least one full hour. Cut it into thick heavy slabs. Serve hot sweet tea alongside it. It is sold at bus stops in slabs.

Technique

• The bananas must be genuinely overripe, heavily speckled or black: ripe bananas have converted their starch to sugar so they are far sweeter and more aromatic, where underripe ones give a bland bread. It is a thrift dish in origin, using up fruit that would otherwise be wasted.
• Fold the wet into the dry with a spoon and stop the moment the flour disappears — a few streaks are better than overmixing, since beating develops gluten and makes the bread tough and rubbery. Combine all the wet ingredients first so the mixing at the end is minimal.
• Bake at a moderate one hundred and seventy degrees for a full hour: a dense wet batter needs it, and a hot oven sets the outside while the middle stays raw. Cover it loosely with foil after about forty minutes if the top darkens, and test with a skewer rather than judging by colour, since banana bread stays wet in the middle for a long time.

Substitutions

• Oil stands in for melted butter.
• Roast raw groundnuts in a dry pan for ten minutes before chopping, since raw groundnut tastes chalky in a bread; say clearly that groundnut is in it, since the allergy can be severe.

Variations

• It is a dense heavy moist bread rather than a light cake, which is characteristic and not a fault — mashed banana weighs the crumb down.
• A dense moist bread keeps well and travels without crumbling, which suits selling in slabs at bus stops through the day.
• Let it cool completely before slicing, since warm banana bread crumbles as you cut it.

History

Baked from the bananas of northern Malawi and sold in slabs at bus stops along the lakeshore road.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nthochi?

Nthochi is a bread & pastry from Malawi: dense banana bread made with overripe bananas and groundnuts. Baked from the bananas of northern Malawi and sold in slabs at bus stops along the lakeshore road.

How long does Nthochi take to make?

Nthochi takes 25 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes one large loaf. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Nthochi?

Yes, within limits. Oil stands in for melted butter. Roast raw groundnuts in a dry pan for ten minutes before chopping, since raw groundnut tastes chalky in a bread; say clearly that groundnut is in it, since the allergy can be severe.

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

Peel all the very ripe bananas. Mash them thoroughly in a bowl. Mash them until they are quite smooth. Large chunks stay wet in the bread. Chop the roasted groundnuts roughly. Leave all of them fairly coarse. They must be roasted rather than raw.