Moukhbaza (Mashed Banana Paste)
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Aperçu
Moukhbaza is mashed ripe banana with dried hot chilli, and the combination is the entire point. Sweet and hot together is a pairing Sudanese cooking returns to repeatedly, and moukhbaza is its most concentrated expression: nothing but banana, lemon juice and toasted chilli, with no attempt to soften the contrast between them. The source places it in eastern Sudan. It is worth being straightforward that closely related dishes under the same name are documented in Yemen, on the other side of the Red Sea, where mukhbaza is a well established banana and chilli preparation. Eastern Sudan faces Yemen directly across that water, and the Red Sea has carried food, people and language in both directions for a very long time. Which side of it the dish began on is not something the available record settles. Dried chilli is used across Sudanese cooking for range rather than simply for heat, and here it is toasted first, which deepens it and takes the raw edge off. Moukhbaza is served as a side or a relish rather than as a course, spread and eaten with bread, and a presentation version stuffs the mashed banana back into a halved and baked banana pepper.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Moukhbaza is documented as a dish of eastern Sudan, prepared from mashed ripe banana with dried hot chilli. A closely related preparation under the cognate name mukhbaza is documented in Yemen, directly across the Red Sea from the Sudanese coast.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
Cut the peppers into thin slivers so they dry faster. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in an oven at about 50°C for around 4 hours.
- 2
Peel the bananas and put them in a bowl. Mash them well with a fork or a potato masher.
- 3
For each cup of mashed banana, add one teaspoon of lemon juice to stop it browning.
- 4
Put the mashed bananas in a large bowl and top with the dried hot peppers.
- 5
For a more presentable version, halve a banana pepper lengthways, bake for 10 minutes at about 160°C, cool slightly and stuff with the mashed banana.
Notes de l’Africook
Notes personnelles de Nympha Nzeribe- The lemon juice is doing a job, not adding flavour. Mashed banana browns within minutes, and the acid is what keeps it pale enough to serve.
- Use bananas that are heavily spotted and soft. Underripe fruit is starchy rather than sweet and the contrast with the chilli falls flat.
- Toast the chillies rather than using them raw. Four hours at a low temperature concentrates them and rounds the heat, and raw chilli on sweet banana is harsher than the dish intends.
- Make it close to serving. It does not hold well: the banana darkens and the texture loosens within a couple of hours even with the lemon.
- Serve it as a relish alongside bread rather than as a dish on its own, which is how it is eaten.
Questions fréquentes
How hot is moukhbaza meant to be?
Genuinely hot. Five chillies to four bananas is the quantity given, and the heat is the point rather than an accent, since the whole dish is built on the collision between sweet and hot. Toasting the chillies first rounds the edge without reducing the strength. Use fewer if you want, but a mild moukhbaza is missing half the idea.
Can I use chilli flakes instead of drying my own?
Yes, and it is the practical shortcut. Toast shop bought flakes briefly in a dry pan to wake them up before using them. What you lose is the specific character of the fresh chilli you would have dried, and dried flakes are usually hotter by volume, so start with less than you think.
What is moukhbaza served with?
Bread, as a relish or side rather than a course in its own right. It is spread or scooped and eaten alongside other dishes rather than eaten on its own. The presentation version, with the mashed banana stuffed into a halved and baked banana pepper, is served the same way.
Can I make moukhbaza ahead of time?
Not usefully. Mashed banana browns and loosens within a couple of hours even with lemon juice, so it is made close to serving. What you can prepare in advance is the chilli, which takes four hours to dry and keeps indefinitely in a sealed container. Do the drying whenever and mash the bananas on the day.
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