Over the next few days you will see one of the following, a superhuman effort to blast through the remaining countries or me crying in a corner cursing the very existence of the blasted IOC and it's 204 countries, 204!! nobody needs that many countries.
Anyhoo, Uganda, a member of the IOC *curses under breath* since 1951 and with only a solitary Gold to their name waaay back in Munich 1972..
Like I've said before, the African countries are tricky to find an interesting recipe to attempt, however this one with the addition of Plantains, another ingredient I've yet to cook with, appealed to me.
Plantains are an interesting ingredient, similar to bananas in looks if you have never seen one but with a tough outer casing which takes some hacking into. The middle part, if you buy the green (unripe) ones, is exactly like a banana in appearance. It is however very tough and needs gentle simmering to soften it and is definitely not sweet, just very starchy.
The recipe I found was a Beef and plantain stew called Matoke which is the Ugandan national dish.
The recipe I used can be found here: Matoke Recipe
Verdict
Interesting. The plantains thicken the stew up very nicely and the combination of fresh tomatoes and vegetables gave a good flavour to the stew. The beef was not needed however, it was a bit tough and needed another hour to what the recipe stated to make it tender. Keeping the dish as a veggie one would work very well.
I share your feelings towards the IOC, I have also developed a new self-loathing!
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