Epitse; mashed over-ripe plantains, baked in leaves.
Plantains, there is always a use for plantains at any stage around this place. From the green plantain to the yellow plantain, soft with black spots and fully black and soft, there is always something to make out of it.
On to today’s post: Epitse.
Epitse is raw mashed plantains with spices that is baked in leaves. It tends to take a bit of the flavour from the leaf and it is tasty. I was trying to find out the real or botanical name of the leaf used online with no results. It is called akotro here and it is what most street food sellers especially waakye sellers use for packing the food. If you do not have the leaf, you can wrap it in plantain leaves and bake it. Either way is nice and nutritious.
After everything, I decided to pack it for some older friends of mine who love epitse, my mother saw it, asked and I told her am giving it away “she freaked out and said not the epitse please.”
Old classics!
- 6 fully black plantains
- 1 1/2 - 2inch ginger
- 5 cloves AKA pregowama
- 3 grains of Salim AKA hwentsea
- 1 onion
- 3 dried chill
- 3 tablespoons palm oil/ coconut oil/ vegatable oil of choice
- 1 teaspoon salt or as required
- 1/3 cup pastry flour/ rice flourn or flour of choice for binding
- 6 akotro leaves/ enough plantain leaves for wrapping
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Preheat an oven to 180°C or 350°F. Clean the leaves and set aside.
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Grind the spices together with a spice grinder or blender. Mash the plantains with a fork. The plantains should be very soft to easily mash with a fork. Add the spices and other ingredients and mix till well blended.
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Take a leaf and scoop about half cup of the epitse batter unto the wrong side the leaf. Fold the left part of the leaf on top, put the right side on it. Then fold the top and bottom sides underneath it. Or wrap it any way to prevent the batter from oozing out.
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Arrange on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes till set and done. The baking time will depend on the thickness of the leaves and your oven as well. Do check when baking.
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Serve with roasted groundnuts or peanuts or on its own.
There is a lot to do with plantains
Kakro
Epitse’s cousin Savoury plantain cake which doubles as ofam.
And my favourite now Sweet plantain crumb cake
