Banana Soup
Overview
Bananas and their cooking relatives are among the most important foods in Africa's Great Lakes region and across its humid tropical belt. In Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, eastern DR Congo and parts of Tanzania and Kenya, the plant is a staple rather than a fruit: green cooking bananas are steamed, mashed, worked into stews and eaten daily, and the sweet ripe banana is only one use among many. That distinction between cooking banana and ripe fruit matters for placing this recipe. It uses ripe bananas, blended smooth with coconut milk and finished with curry powder and turmeric, which puts it closer to the spiced coconut cooking of the Swahili coast than to the green banana dishes of the interior. The pairing of coconut milk with warm spice is genuinely East African coastal; the blended sweet banana base is not a documented preparation from any specific tradition. This is best understood as a contemporary dish rather than an inherited one. It uses African ingredients and an East African coastal flavour logic, but no country, community or lineage can honestly be attached to it on the evidence available. What it does well is show what ripe banana does under savoury treatment, which is a legitimate thing for a recipe to do without claiming a heritage it does not have.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Fry the chopped onion and minced garlic in a large pot until translucent.
- 2
Add the curry powder and turmeric and cook for another minute to release their flavours.
- 3
Peel and slice the ripe bananas, add them to the pot and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring gently.
- 4
Pour in the vegetable broth and coconut milk and bring to a gentle simmer.
- 5
Blend the mixture smooth with a stick blender, or transfer carefully to a jug blender and return it to the pot.
- 6
Simmer for a further 5 to 10 minutes to let the flavours come together.
- 7
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- 8
Serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander and toasted coconut flakes if using.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Laila Yetunde- Use bananas that are ripe but not black. Overripe fruit makes the soup cloying, and the curry and turmeric cannot pull it back.
- Bloom the spices in the oil for a full minute before any liquid goes in. Curry powder added to liquid tastes raw and dusty.
- Salt harder than feels comfortable. A sweet base needs considerably more salt than a savoury one to read as a soup rather than a dessert, and acid helps too: a squeeze of lime at the end sharpens the whole bowl.
- For a version closer to the cooking banana dishes of the Great Lakes region, use green plantain instead of ripe banana. The soup will be starchy rather than sweet and will need longer cooking.
Reviews
5 reviews
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Which bananas do I use for banana soup? Mine went sweet and strange.
Cooking bananas or green plantain, not the sweet fruit. The dish depends on starch rather than sugar, and a ripe eating banana will collapse into something sweet and slightly cloying. Look for firm, green fruit that feels dense, and treat it the way you would a potato.
Couldnt find fresh coriander at the Safeway near me so I skipped the green garnish, but the soup itself came out so rich. The blend of turmeric and coconut milk gives it a gorgeous bright yellow color. Blending the cooked bananas directly in the vegetable broth created a velvety texture that reminded me a bit of a smooth sweet stew. Picked up the toasted coconut flakes from the Asian market in the International District and they added a nice crunch.
The spice base reminded me of tempering spices for a Gujarati dal, though adding garlic and fried onions right at the start works nicely here. Was a bit hesitant about using four very ripe bananas, but once you pour in the coconut milk and stick blend it smooth, the sweet and savory balance is spot on. Served it with warm flatbreads to dip into the turmeric-scented broth. Lovely autumn lunch.
Ah, I was worried the ripe banana go make the soup too sweet o, but the curry powder and minced garlic balanced everything nicely. I added extra black pepper because my family likes heat sha. The stick blender made it very smooth and creamy. E sweet well well!