Burundi

 By MONUSCO Photos (Burundian refugees children on tree.) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

De Spesh531 - Trabajo propio, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20071828

Recipes from Burundi that I cooked:

Ndizi (fried plantain)

Ibiharage (Burundi's beans)

Date and Banana cake 

By No machine-readable author provided. SKopp assumed (based on copyright claims). [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Date and banana Mix (Burundi)

                                                                               Receta en Español

Date and Banana mix is a cake made using two ingredients very common in Burundi; banana and dates.

Sweets are not commonly consumed in Burundi, but I have found references to this dessert in several web pages, this one among them:http://www.zeraction.com/2015/08/burundian-cuisine-recipes-of-beans-dishes.html , I suppose that they make it only in special occasions.

It is delicious and very easy to cook, I encourage you to try it!.

Ingredients (for a 17x25 cm recipient):

-  250 grams butter.
-  25 grams butter for the final topping.
-  200 grams powdered sugar.
-  2 eggs.
-  500 grams flour.
-  1 package baking powder.
-  Salt.
-  4 Bananas.
-  250 grams dates.
-  2 spoons powdered sugar.
-  1 spoon cinnamon.

Method:

1- If you don't have powdered sugar you can use normal sugar and grind it using a coffee grinder.

2- Put 250 grams of butter in a bowl, once the butter is at room temperature cream it together with 200 grams of powdered sugar until the mix is light and fluffy. 

3- Add eggs one after the other , beat  them and mix well.

4- Add flour, salt and baking powder; mix well until you get an homogeneous mixture.

5- Take an ovenproof mould of 17x25 cm, line it with parchment paper. Put inside the mould half of the mixture and spread it well. 

6- Cut bananas into slices , bananas should be in an optimal state of maturation, nor green nor brown.

Spread the banana slices all over the mixture.

7- Remove pits from dates then cut the meat into little pieces, spread the pieces of dates all over the bananas.

8- Cover with the other half of the mixture, spread it well using a spatule. Leave the Surface of the cake flat.

9- Preheat the oven at  180 ºC, cook the cake for 30 minutes at the same temperature over/under heating.

10- Rigth after taking the cake out of the oven we pour over the surface 25 grams of melted butter. We do it with the help of a cooking brush.

11- Mix the remaining powdered sugar with the cinnamon, spread it over the surface of the cake using a little strainer.

 That's the result:

My comments to the Recipe

Dates mixed with bananas are a delicious combination, this cake has a marvellous taste. It is pretty easy to make! , you should try and taste it.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Burundi

Ibiharage (Burundi's beans)

                                                                               Receta en Español


Beans, specially kidney beans are common dish. This is called ibiharage, today I present this recipe accompanied by  Ndizi(fried Plantain).
We are going to cook the beans using palm oil, the most typical oil in this country, you can mix it with sunflower oil to soften its taste.

 

Ingredients (4 people:

-  1 Spoon of sunflower oil.
-  1 Spoon of palm oil.
-  1 onion cut into small pieces.
-  3 garlic gloves cut into small pieces.
-  450 grams of kidney beans.
-  Salt.
-  a piece of hot pepper.

Method:

1-Soak beans for 12 hours.

2- Chop onion and garlic ,pour palm and sunflour oil into the pressure cooker, sautée onion and garlic for 3 minutes at low heat.

3- Add beans, chili and salt, sautée for 2 more minutes.

4- Add water enough just to cover the beans.

5- Close pressure cooker, put on high heat, when steam comes out from the valve put heat on low heat and cook beans for 1 hour.

6- While beans are cooking , prepare fried plantain the way I told you in my previous article:  Ndizi.

7- After one hour , open the pressure cooker and add fried plantain, stirr well and cook five more minutes at low heat (whitout the cover). It is ready to eat!,but if you wait some hours it will be even more tasty.

My comments to the Recipe

It is an original combination, beans and plantain. It is delicious . Besides a ligth spicy touch make the beans even more delicious.
It is a healthy dish and full of energy.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Burundi

Ndizi (Plantain cooked in palm oil)

                                                                              Receta en Español 

Ndizi means plantain in swahili, plantains are very common in Burundi, they are eaten cooked, specially using palm oil. Be aware of the difference between plantain and banana. Banana is eaten row and plantains are bigger with harder flesh so they are eaten cooked.
Once cooked you obtain chips that remember patato chips.

These cheaps can be eaten like a snack or can be used to accompany other dishes.
Plantain can be green or yellow, when you use the yellow one the result is sweeter.

Ingredients:

• 2 Plantains.
• Palm oil.
• Salt.

Method:

1. Cut plantains into slices.

2. Pour a Little palm oil in a frying palm, once the oil is heat add plantains slices, fry them until they are slightly browned.

3. Put the plantain slices on a paper towel to get rid of the excess oil.

4. Put the plantain slices in a dish and sprinkle salt over them.

My comments to the Recipe

It is an easy recipe, palm oil  provides an special taste. It is very similar to eat potato chips adding that you have the flavours of Africa in your mouth.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Burundi