by DNB Staff writer
The woman close to my Estate sells well-roasted plantains but she sells them with groundnuts instead.
Whenever I come to buy, she would ask me: “Oga mi, don’t you want groundnuts?”
“I have at home,” I would lie. I don’t know if it’d offend her somehow if I told her the truth – that eating roasted plantains with groundnut is not my thing.
I always feel it is a bit disrespectful to be eating such an elegant food as plantain with groundnuts. In Eastern Nigeria where I come from, any meal involving plantains is not a joke. If someone cooked rice and added fried plantains, they deserve to be kissed on the forehead and lifted up.
Today, I bought 5 fingers, roasted to a smooth-brown finish. They cost N200 each but she asked me to “bring N800 as her regular customer”.
Safe inside my house, I put the plantains aside and went about preparing my homemade sauce.
Ingredients:
- Fresh red peppers
- Onions
- Fresh palm oil
- Crayfrish (optional)
- Seasoning cube
- Salt
- Ukpaka
Method:
- Crush the peppers and onions together and put in a pot
- Cook for a bit and then pour in some palm oil
- Add some ground crayfish (if you have)
- Add your ukpaka (if available
- Add salt and seasoning cube and stir.
- Carry down the pot and look at the magic you have created
- Serve with chilled juice
