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Aloco: brown mushy stew

Aloco

Palm oil and plantains

Heat a cup of red palm oil (or peanut oil if you can’t get palm oil) in a frying pan. Peel and slice raw plantains (they’re like bananas) into discs or chunks and sprinkle them with salt. Fry the plantains until they are golden brown. Take the plantains out of the frying pan with a slotted spoon and leave them in a bowl.

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Onions, tomato, and chili pepper

In the same palm oil, fry sliced onion, tomato, and chili pepper for a few minutes. Add 3 tablespoons of water and one tablespoon of vinegar, turn the heat down, and simmer a little while until the sauce thickens. Pour the sauce over the cooked plantains and serve. People often serve aloco with grilled fish.

Where do tomatoes come from?
How about chili peppers?

People in Africa eat food from all over the world

People could not have eaten this recipe in ancient Africa. Plantains are not originally African (traders brought them to Africa from India). Neither are tomatoes or chili peppers, which both came to Africa from Latin America. Today, people in West Africa eat foods from all over the world, and this is one of the recipes they make.

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Bibliography and further reading about West African food:

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