Ugandan cooking lesson #1: Matooke

Matooke, the staple food of the area around Mbale. There just isn't anything quite the same as it in the US. Even plantains aren't exactly equivalent. However, apparently you could substitute plantains for matooke in a recipe.

Matooke is cooked when it is unripe and can be eaten raw once it gets ripe.
Here is how you can prepare matooke:
1. Wash off the outside of the matooke
2. Put vasoline all over your hands and the knife you're going to use (because otherwise you get covered in sticky gunk that takes FOREVER to get off - I learned this the hard way)
3. Peel the matooke with the knife
4. Steam the matooke for about an hour
5. Wrap the matooke in banana leaves and mash it through the leaf with your hands
6. Put the wrapped and mashed matooke back into the pot and steam it over a fire for a few more hours

You may have guessed, but we haven't done the steaming over a fire thing. In fact, we just put the peeled matooke in a pot with water, steam it/boil it until the water nearly dries up, and then mash it right there in the pot. Much easier and it tastes about the same...


Now, after you have your cooked matooke, there are many things you can do with it. If it is mashed, you can make a sauce with beans cooked with onions and carrots (chop up a big onion and a couple carrots and put them in a pot with about a cup of dried beans that you soaked overnight then rinsed, and cover with water. Cook for about an hour or so, until the water is mostly gone) or you can mash peanut butter in with it (just regular peanut butter).




If you just steam the matooke and don't mash it, you can cook tomatoes to make a sauce for it or you can make a peanut butter sauce (peanut butter plus about twice as much water, some onion, and garlic).