Cameroon – Banana Melaxe

by Nghonazie Annabel

Banana melaxe is a meal gotten from unripe bananas and enough ground groundnut. Banana melaxe is a dish which is very common with Bamlike people from the west region of Cameroon. This dish is believed to be very cheap and nutritious which can feed a big family a day with little expenditure. Banana melaxe is believed to be a poor man’s food as those in towns call it and it can be seen that only people with very little income often prepares this meal. During the banana session, the banana is very cheap such that with 500 FRS a good quantity of the banana can be bought which will give a very big pot of meal. To reduce cost as much as possible, broken groundnuts can be used and with 300 FRS, 3 cups of groundnuts can be used. This meal also does not require a lot of spices so roughly with 1500 FRS a great meal can be served. Banana melaxe is good for breast feeding mothers as it is believed that it helps in producing enough breast milk.

Cooking method

Banane melaxe is prepared by boiling

Cooking ingredients

• 5 hands of unripe banana
• Smoked fish
• Palm oil
• Peeled ground groundnut
• Crayfish
• Gallic
• Njinja
• Maggi and salt

Cooking process

• Put banana in a bowl of water and peel. This is to avoid the sap from sticking on the hands
• Ground peeled groundnut and keep
• Peel Gallic and njinja and grind
• Select the smoked fish to remove the bones, wash and keep
• Put water in a pot and put on the fire
• When the water has boiled, put the peeled unripe bananas in the pot making sure the water level surpasses the banana level
• Pour the ground groundnut into the put and mix. Make sure the groundnut mixes well
• Add the garlic and njinja
• Allow to cook for 20 minutes
• Now put the smoked fish and crayfish. Add the palm oil to the mixture and stir well
• Put maggi and salt and taste it to be sure that the salt and maggi is ok
• Cover the pot and allow to cook for 40 minutes
• Always open the pot to check the water level and also monitor the thickness of the sauce
• Add some water to the banana and allow to boil a little
• When the desired thickness is reached, remove and serve in a plate
• It is eaten semi hot with a bottle of water by the side

Banana melaxe is this easy to prepare.

Enjoy your meal.