A simple island style side dish consisting of pureed green bananas combined with cooked up seasoned onions with herbs and spices.
I’m so excited to share this green banana side dish recipe with you all. It’s very straight forward and suitable for most dietary requirements. All you will need is a potato masher/food processor or immersion stick to puree the bananas and a handful of herbs and spices.
Green bananas play a role crucial role in Caribbean cooking. It’s funny because while other cultures may wait for bananas to mature and ripen, for island people the green hue doesn’t phase us. I grew up consuming green bananas, granted they are a lot less sweeter than their yellow counterpart. In fact they are very starchy, quite firm with a waxy texture.
Green bananas are used for savoury delicacies, it tends to be served as a side dish or by itself when accompanying a meat dish such as mackerel run down. It can be eaten with other ground provisions (hard food) or made into a sweet porridge for breakfast.
I’ve eaten all of the above, after all it’s apart of my heritage, however, I wanted to push the boat out a little and try something new/different so I decided to try my hand at turning green bananas into mash.
I had a bunch of bananas knocking around in the kitchen which I really wanted to make some porridge with, after resisting the urge not to make porridge. I quickly jotted down some notes, did some trial and error and hey presto!
Some Eastern Caribbean islands such as St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago refer to green bananas as green fig.
Ingredients you will need
- Green bananas (green figs)
- Almond milk
- Onion
- Garlic cloves
- Black pepper
- Thyme
- Shado beni (can use cilantro)
- Cumin seeds
- Pink salt
- Dairy free butter
How to make green banana mash
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Cut the ends of each banana and then slice the skin lengthways (do not remove the skin now).
- Carefully lower the bananas into the pot of water and boil about 15-20 minutes until the skin and water darkens and the bananas are tender.
- While the bananas are boiling, melt some dairy free butter in a skillet on medium heat.
- Start by frying the cumin seeds for about 2 minutes
- Add the onion and garlic and saute for 10 minutes until lightly golden and set aside.
- Drain the water off the bananas and remove the skin (it should come off with ease)
- Use a food processor/immersion stick/potato masher to puree the bananas adding the almond milk in intervals.
- Mix in half of the cooked up onions along with the thyme/shado beni and pink salt to taste
- Use the remaining onions to top the mash when serving.
Notes and tips
- Make sure the green banana is completely unripened, a strong green hue with no signs of yellow colour.
- If you cannot obtain shado beni use cilantro instead
- Use dried herbs if you can’t get hold of any fresh herbs instead.
- Use a fork to prick the banana, it should be soft and tender when determining its readiness.
- You can yield the same results using green plantain
- Green banana is also known as green fig by some islands
- Green banana are sold in ethnic markets – Caribbean/Asian/Latino
Other green plantain/green banana recipes you may like
Green banana porridge
Green banana mash
Ingredients
- 5 Green bananas (green fig)
- ½ cup almond milk (118ml)
- 1 small onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 4 sprigs of thyme stem removed
- 2 tsp shado beni can use cilantro instead
- pink salt to taste
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Cut the ends of each banana and then slice the skin lengthways (do not remove the skin now).
- Carefully lower the bananas into the pot of water and boil about 15-20 minutes until the skin and water darkens and the bananas are tender.
- While the bananas are boiling, melt some dairy free butter in a skillet on medium heat.
- Start by frying the cumin seeds for about 2 minutes
- Add the onion and garlic and saute for 10 minutes until lightly golden and set aside.
- Drain the water off the bananas and remove the skin (it should come off with ease)
- Use a food processor/immersion stick/potato masher to puree the bananas adding the almond milk in intervals.
- Mix in the half of the cooked up onions along with the thyme/shado beni and pink salt to taste
- Use the remaining onions to top the mash when serving.
Notes
- Make sure the green banana is completely unripened, a strong green hue with no signs of yellow colour.
- If you cannot obtain shado beni use cilantro instead
- Use dried herbs if you can't get hold of any fresh herbs instead.
- Use a fork to prick the banana, it should be soft and tender when determining its readiness.
- You can yield the same results using green plantain
- Green banana is also known as green fig by some islands
- Green banana are sold in ethnic markets - Caribbean/Asian/Latino
Nutrition
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