Ripe cooked bananas served as a side
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Steamed sweet bananas

Steamed sweet bananas recipe: dessert bananas steamed until soft — a simple treat, distinct from plantains (makemba / steamed).

Category
Dessert
Prep
5 min
Cook
20 min
Serves
4 people
Level
easy
Photo · Black Lyn — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
4

Ingredients

  • 6 sweet bananas, ripe but firm
  • Water for steaming
  • A pinch of salt, optional
  • A knob of butter or a little oil, optional

Method

  1. 01 Wash the bananas. Cook in the skin or peeled, according to household habit.
  2. 02 Place in a steamer basket over simmering water.
  3. 03 Cook 15–20 minutes until tender.
  4. 04 Peel if cooked in the skin. Serve warm, plain or with a little butter / sugar.

Sweet bananas are not plantains: sweeter and softer. Steamed plantains and makemba stay on the savoury starch side; this is the light snack or dessert.

In the same spirit

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