How to Cook Plantain


How to cook plantain as a component of an African food dish depends on what part of Africa or indeed the world, you came from.

Plantain is also cooked in various ways, depending on what recipe you plan to make. Plantain can be cooked and eaten boiled, roasted, mashed, baked, grilled or even as plantain porridge.

In Nigeria, the most populous African nation, plantain is mostly eaten as dodo or fried plantain. This involves frying sliced ripe plantain in vegetable oil or butter till it is golden yellow to brown in color and ...hmm, truly delicious!

Plantain is also cooked boiled. This is much like boiling potatoes. You place the peeled plantain in a pot and add water to it and allow to boil for about half an hour until tender in moderate heat. This can then be eaten with a soup or butter or some other sauce.


Another way to cook plantain that is common in Africa is to roast it under balls of red hot charcoal, until it is cooked. This is called bolae or bolle in southern Nigeria. You can eat bolle hot with palm oil or butter.

Plantain chips are another form in which plantain is cooked and eaten.

Plantain is cooked differently in Latin American countries. One of the most popular ways plantain is prepared is as Tostones.

This involves frying the slightly ripened plantain initially soaked in flavored water, mash it, and then fry it again, until it becomes very crisps.

For a full range of how to cook plantain, please see our plantain recipe section.








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