Name: Democratic Republic of Congo: Ndizi Wa Nazi
Cuisine: Democratic Republic of Congo
Ingredients: ripe plantains: 4; light coconut milk: 1 1/2 cup; curry powder: 1 tsp; ground cinnamon: 1/2 tsp; cardamom: 1/2 tsp; ground cloves: 1/8 tsp; Kosher Salt: scant 1/2 tsp

Ingredients

4 ripe plantains

peeled and cut into 1" coins

1 1/2 cup light coconut milk

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/8 tsp ground cloves

scant 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

Directions

I’m a little anxious about what the title of this post might draw to my blog, but in Swahili “zdizi wa nazi” means quite literally “banana with coconut.” Popular in African and Caribbean cooking, plantains are a member of the banana family, and can either refer more colloquially to any banana that is eaten cooked, or to true plantains which are larger and starchier than a Chiquita. I didn’t discover how much I loved plantains until I did my first Whole30 and began cooking them in many different ways since they are one of the few permitted starches. Plantains are wonderful cooked when hard green or so ripe they’re soft and black, but expect very different results! Ripe plantains are sweet enough to be a dessert, but with all the spices in this dish they’re the perfect sweet and savory side dish. I’d take this over mashed potatoes any day!

I discovered this recipe in Mark Bittman’s cookbook, which is great in that it provides hundreds of international recipes, but not so great in that it doesn’t tell you very much at all about the recipe so I generally have to do a bit of research to confirm the dish’s origin and story. In this case, Bittman tagged this only with “Congo, Zanzibar” and in my research I struggled a bit to determine which was the most authentic origin. Honestly, I decided to go with Congo rather than Tanzania because I’m going to be making a dish from both the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both of which have seemingly similar cuisine so I figured I may as well knock one out. From there, I took my best guess based on the fact that Swahili is a recognized national language of the latter, but not the former (the official language of both is French). I’ve definitely learned that this project isn’t a science – countries across a region often share many similar culinary influences, and which a dish is best attributed to can be a bit of a guessing game!

Recipe Source: The Best Recipes in the World (Cookbook)

Steps

1 Done	Peel and cut the ride plantain into coins about ye big. Try (and fail) not to drop them on your cookbook.
2 Done	Add plantains and all other ingredients into a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir well and bring mixture to a low simmer. Try (and fail) not to drop your phone into the simmering plan of liquid while taking a mediocre picture
3 Done	Cook for about 15 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed and the plantains are tender. You'll want to stir throughout to ensure it doesn't burn to the bottom of your pan.