Ingredients:
1kg meat (beef, chicken, goat or pork [any one or two of these] cut into serving-sized pieces
250g blanched peanuts
1 onion, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
4 tbsp tomato purée
1 Maggi cube (or beef stock cube)
salt, freshly-ground black pepper and chilli powder to taste
4 banana leaves
200g mushrooms, wiped clean
1 dried, smoked fish, broken into pieces and bones removed
4 plantains
Method:
Briefly sear the meat on a hot griddle pan until browned all over. In the meantime, crush the peanuts with a pestle and mortar.
Add 1 tbsp oil to a large pan. Stir in the onion and fry gently for 1 minute then add the tomato, tomato prée, stock cube, salt, black pepper and chilli powder along with the crushed peanuts. Add just enough water to make a smooth paste then bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes then take off the heat.
Briefly heat the banana leaves in a hot oven then remove some of the fibres from the central rib of each leaf (you will use these to tie the parcels). Place 1/4 of the meat and 1/4 of the onion and tomato sauce in the centre of each leaf. Top with sliced mushrooms and a little flaked smoked fish then fold the leaf in from the sides. Fold over the top and bottom to enclose the filling then tie the parcel closed with banana leaf fibres or string.
Place a wire rack or bamboo steamer in a large pan or flame-proof casserole then add enough water to fill the pot up just below the top of the rack. Arrange the bamboo leaf parcels on top of the rack, along with the unpeeled plantains. Bring the water to a boil, cover and allow the packets to steam for about 80 minutes (top-up the water as needed).
To serve, remove the plantains from their skins and mash with a fork. Divide the plantain mash between four plates, unwrap the banana leaf packets, top with the meat and sauce mixture and serve.
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