For the love of African food

The owner of African food market, Urban Ethnic, explained all about the African fruit that’s one of the many indigenous foods sold at the market – the plantain.

The difference between a banana and a plantain, according to Lovelyn Bassey, is that plantains are members of the banana family, but they are starchier and lower in sugar. This is why they are normally still green in colour when they are ripe. The main difference, however, is that a banana can be eaten raw as an on-the-go snack while plantains aren’t usually eaten raw due to their high starch content.

Bassey said, “Plantains are found in Eastern and Western Africa. We source these fruit as we do many other African foods, spices, beauty products and health products from this continent. Plantains can be prepared differently but most people either fry, boiled and then mash or grill to eat. It also comes in a flour form and you can use that to bake or as starch in meals.”

The fruit can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even dessert by grilling the plantain and serving it with ice cream or frozen yoghurt. “I normally like to grill the plantains and have it with tomato gravy and bream fish which originates from Zambia. I would say that is one of my favourite African dishes to prepare and eat. A bonus is that it’s quick to prepare when you have all the ingredients.”

She added that most of her clients favour the fruit because of its gluten-free and healthy properties.

Details: Urban Ethnic Market info@urbanethnicmarket.co.za; 011 678 0554.

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