Boiled Green Banana with Salted Mackerel

I learnt to eat green bananas from a colleague who grew up in the Caribbean.  She told me that the people in her home island consider banana as vegetable rather than fruit.  They eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.  

Unlike the ripe ones, green bananas have a mild taste and starchy texture that is very similar to potato after cooking.  I let my son to try it without telling him what it was first, and he thought it was boiled potato.  We are so happy to discover one more new healthy food that can substitute potato in our diet.

  

INGREDIENTS:

4 Green Bananas (not Plantains)

1 Red Onion, small, sliced

4 Garlic Cloves, mashed and chopped

1/2 Red Bell Pepper, seeded and cubed

1 Salted Mackerel, deboned and cut into bite size

Salt and Pepper to taste

Vegetable Oil

DIRECTION:

1. Cut both ends of each bananas.  Slit the bananas lengthwise; set them aside.

2. Set a pot of water to a boil over high heat.  Add a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of oil (to prevent the banana sap sticks to the pot).  When the water comes to a rolling boil, add bananas.  Boil the bananas for 15 minutes; drain.  Remove the peels and cut the flesh to chunks; place them on serving plate.

3. In a pan, heat up three tablespoons of oil over high heat.  Add garlic and onion; stir fry until fragrant and the onion starts to soften.  About 10 minutes. 

4. Add mackerel.  Continue to cook until the fish is throughly cooked; about 10 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat and spoon the fish beside the bananas to serve.