Cheap, delicious meal few Kenyans know about

Steamed rice served with banana heart stew (PHOTO: JOSEPH MUCHIRI/STANDARD)

A banana heart (inflorescence) meal is not a favourite of many people in Kenya. The cone-shaped, purple heart, which hangs forlornly at the end of a banana bunch is not considered as a food component, which explains why it ends up as animal feed.

The purple inflorescence is also used as a lid for water containers in many parts of Kenya. But for Faith Mbogo, a resident of Kirigi near Manyatta Market in Embu North, her family relishes a meal made from the heart, referred to locally as gikoro.

Mbogo says a meal made from banana flower is tasty and rich in potassium, an essential nutrient in preventing diseases and correcting electrolyte imbalance, according to nutritionists.

Mbogo says she prefers banana heart to common vegetables such as sukuma wiki (kales), spinach and cabbages as an accompaniment to her the family’s main dishes such as rice, chapatti and ugali.

“I prefer the heart to other vegetables because of its nutritional value. In addition, it grows naturally and is not boosted by fertilisers or sprayed chemicals unlike other common vegetables. My family loves it and a good number of my visitors adopt it,” she says.

Faith Mbogo (right) treats her visitors to rice and banana heart stew at her home in Kirigi area, Embu North sub-county

Mbogo warns that if a meal from banana heart is prepared by an unskilled person, the consumer would hate it with a passion.

The mother of three further warns that chopping the heart from an immature bunch affects the quality of the meal, in addition to adversely affecting the fruits left in the banana.

I watched with amusement as Mbogo prepared the meal. She took me through the process involved until the meal is steaming hot on the dinner table. “The first step is to get hearts from almost mature bananas enough for the family.

You then remove the outer layers, which are densely fibrous and flabby for human ingestion, until you reach the soft core which is almost white in colour,” she explains. She added: “Chop each heart into halves and gently wash those pieces using warm water to clear the thick sap, which makes the food sour if it is not washed well. Then slice thinly and fry as you do to other vegetables,” she notes.

Mbogo advises that if one is not cooking the heart immediately, one can soak it in cold, salty water to prevent discolouration.

After frying for about five minutes, Mbogo says, one can add some meat and cook until they are ready.

She says the food takes between 20 and 30 minutes to cook.

When the food was ready, this writer had a rare opportunity to taste it served with steaming hot rice, and it was delicious and finger-licking.

Another banana heart meal enthusiast is Mary Wanja, 32, from Murang’a County. Wanja, a banana farmer from Kiawambeu Village in Mbiri, has been cooking banana flowers for her family for several years.

She says she learnt the skills of how to prepare the meals from her friend who lives in Uganda. “When she came for the holiday in 2013, she taught me how to prepare banana heart meal. I have been cooking it for my family regularly,” Wanja says.

The mother of three says the meal is sweet and her family enjoys it.

“Several other people from the area have learnt the skills of preparing it from me. I prefer the heart from Kampala banana variety. This type of banana has huge hearts and four are enough for my family in a day,” she says. Banana heart is cooked as vegetable in many South East Asian countries and most commonly served as a salad vegetable dish.

Julieta Igandu, a traditionalist from Kimbu Village, Embu East, says the heart of banana has been used to treat constipation and ulcer. She says it also eases menstrual cramps.

Caroline Wamuyu, a nutritionist in Embu County and Rita Njue, a graduate from Mount Kenya University in food science, say banana heart is rich in proteins and vitamins and helps in improving sight.