Vegetables Wrapped in Banana Leaf. Esta receta también está disponible en Español.
Cooking in leafs
Preparing food by using the leafs of a plant is a common way of cooking in Colombia. The most famous dish would be tamales. You prepare them by cooking a mixture of cornmeal, vegetables, animal protein and spices wrapped in a banana leaf. Colombia knows many types of tamales, all of them containing animal protein, and soon I will post a recipe to make a vegetarian tamal.
Vegetables wrapped in banana leaf
This post is about something else though. Vegetables Cooked in Banana Leaf. I took inspiration for this recipe from a recent trip to the Caribbean Coast. My travel partners on several occasions ate fish wrapped in banana leaf. Often the dish would include a local and fresh type of white fish in a tomato-sauce, cooked on a fire. Banana leaf used for cooking is very resistent, and therefore you can put the package directly on coal or fire. Also by wrapping the content all the mixed flavors of the different ingredients are preserved.
I experimented with different versions of cooking only vegetables, smothered in a Colombian tomato sauce (guiso), in banana leaf. To make this dish easier to prepare, I used the oven to cook the vegetables. Although for my next barbecue I am planning to cook this same recipe but then I will place the banana-leaf-wrapped-vegetables straight over the hot coal.
Which leafs to use
To make this recipe you will need the leafs of some plant. You can use leafs of the banana plant, the plaintain plant, or the bijao (a kind of palm tree). You can buy leafs that are ready for cooking: they are either shortly boiled in water, or placed over an open fire, to make them soft enough to handle. Often you buy them already cut into squares or rectangles, ready to wrap whatever you want to cook. When preparing this recipe I bought whole leafs of the plantain plant that were ready to use for cooking, but I did cut them in the right size.
Variations
For this recipe I use pumpkin, carrot and potato, in a Colombian sauce made of tomatoes and red pepper. But you can use whatever vegetables you like: zucchini, eggplant, green beens, or whatever you have left in the refrigerator. Be aware that with softer vegetables like zucchini it is not necessary to preboil them.
Step-by-step instruction: vegetables wrapped in banana leaf
1. When using ready-to-use- leafs, place leaf on counter and add vegetables. Mix vegetables together. When using whole leafs, cut off the short ends and if necessary the long ends as well, as to create a rectangle. Place cut vegetables on top.
2. Add guiso (Colombian Tomato Sauce) and mix well.
3. Place the short ends towards the inside.
4. Fold like wrapping a present.
5. Tie with cooking twine.
6. Place in greased oven dish and cook for 30 minutes on 220 degrees Celsius.
7. Unwrap and enjoy! Serve with white rice.
Do you love Colombian food? More vegetarian recipes you find here!
Vegetables Wrapped In Banana Leaf
Equipment
- banana, plantain, or bijao leaf (easiest is to buy ready-to-use rectangles)
- cooking twine
Ingredients
- 4 potatoes, sliced
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 1/2 small pumpkin, sliced
- cilantro, finely chopped
Guiso (Tomato Sauce)
- vegetable oil
- 3 big, ripe tomatoes, grated
- 1 medium sized white onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, grated
- 1 red pepper, cut into thin slices
- tsp cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 220 degrees Celsius (440 Fahrenheit)
- Start by preparing the guiso/sauce. Sauté onion and garlic in vegetable oil in a frying pan for 2-3 minutes. Add cumin, red pepper, salt and pepper and cook for an additional 5 minutes until the red pepper is soft. Add grated tomatoes, cover pan with a lid, and simmer for 20 minutes
- While your guiso is cooking, preboil sliced potatoes and carrot for 10 minutes in a boiling pot. In the meantime, clean and slice pumpkin
- Adjust seasoning for the guiso
- Place the banana leaf on the kitchen worktop (see blogpost for instructions if you have not bought ready-to-use banana leafs). Add pumpkin, preboiled potato and carrot in the middle of the leaf. Mix the vegetables and add salt and pepper
- Add guiso/tomato sauce on top and mix everything together
- Wrap the banana leaf. Start with folding the short edges to the middle. Fold the long edges in like wrapping a present, and place them towards the middle. Secure the wrapping, using the cooking twine, by tying up the package. See pictures in blogpost for instructions. Place in a greased oven dish and cook at 220 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes
- Open up the wrapped banana leaf by cutting the strings. Sprinkle cilantro over vegetables and serve with white rice
