Côte d’Ivoirian fried plantain with roasted nuts | How do you make Alloco or Kelewele | What is the national dish of The Ivory Coast
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017
I’ve sort of done two recipes in one. Alloco, which is known as Kelewele in Ghana (also Dodo in Nigeria and Makemba in the Democratic Republic of Congo) is a common West African street food and side dish. So, how do you make Alloco?
I’ve added roasted nuts to this version, which would make it Ghanaian, but the base is the Ivory Coast recipe – you decide.
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Servings | people |
Ingredients
Main stuff
- 1 ripe plantain sliced at an angle slightly less than 1cm wide
- 200ml vegetable oil enough to stop the plantain touching the pan when cooking
- 1 small handful salted peanuts
- 1 small handful pistachio nuts shelled, obvs
Spice mix
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 small chunk fresh ginger finely grated
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
Ingredients Main stuff
Spice mix
| |
Instructions
- Place a heavy bottomed frying pan on a medium high heat and add the nuts, move them around from time to time, don't let them burn. At the same time, on a low heat, place a wok and slowly heat enough vegetable oil to fry the plantain (they will float) - keep an eye on this too. Peel and slice the plantain, at an angle.
- In a bowl add all the spice mix and then the sliced plantain - be gentle, don't mash em.
- When done, the plantain should be a lovely golden brown, covered in the spice dust.
- Give the nuts another wiggle, if you think they're done, turn the heat off and let them sit in the pan.
- Get the oil in the wok hot enough to fry, using a slotted spoon, dip one of the plantain slices, if you get an instant reaction, it's ready. In batches, lower in enough plantain so they're not overcrowded and cook for about 4-5 minutes - don't burn them, if they look too dark, it's been too long.
- On a plate, place a few layers of kitchen towel and using a slotted spoon, fish out the plantain and place on the plate to drain - note the colour, that's done.
- Once all cooked, pile high on a serving plate and sprinkle over the nuts.
- Thank you Côte d'Ivoire
Merci
Hey, thanks for highlighting this Simone if it definitely should not have nuts in it. I have gone a little off piste and the recipe should be easy to correct. That said, I did love this. For the record though, listen to Simone.
There are zero peanuts in traditional Kelewele.