Plantain is a very versatile fruit, though we treat it like a vegetable. You can have it grilled, baked, fried, roasted, mashed, stewed or just boiled, and it is good for you. Just make sure you cook it, do not eat it raw.

It is rich in fibre, iron, Potassium, magnesium, vitamins A, C and B6 and tasty too.

If you have some left over, and ripening from yellow to black, fret not, you can still use them in pancakes, porridge (I have an awesome plantain porridge recipe coming soon), and quick bread/ Cake.

I like making simple loaves for the kids’ school snacks or tea time treat. It comes together fast and you can add raisins, coconut, nuts, whatever you fancy.

For a simple plantain loaf, you will need:-

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Add the thick batter to a well greased loaf pan and bake at 160 degrees Celsius for about an hour. Start checking at around the 50 minutes mark, as it also depends on your oven and other variables.

It is a fave in our house.

It tastes even better the next day, and if you want you can make a bigger one in a ring pan and even ice it a bit.

For a bigger plantain bread/cake you can double the quantities and bake for 75 minutes.

Note: The riper the plantain the sweeter it is and the sweeter the plantain, the better. Also I do not use a lot of sugar, as we do not like our cakes too sweet.

I like adding coconut in it, finding the flavours blending together pretty well. You can also use coconut oil in place of the butter.

How do you like your plantain?