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¡A Comer!: Warming up January with sopa de plátano

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Green and slightly brown bananas in a grocery store bin

Welcome to our new recipe column, ¡A comer!. Each month, we will share a new recipe that celebrates Latine cuisine and foodways. 

Food is a delicious form of culture and a phenomenal way to pass on knowledge and tradition. It can even serve as a means of exploring personal identity and the state of the world. In this monthly column, we will mix in some historic context, little-known facts or breaking news that connects what we eat with who we are, where we have been or where we are headed.

Today, we begin with this scrumptious recipe starring a beloved everyday ingredient: “el plátano,” also known as the plantain.

Do you have a favorite Latine dish or family recipe? We’d love to get your suggestions or to feature your recipe on Hola Cultura. Send us an email, contact@holacultura.com.

Sopa de plátano

Sopa de plátano

Context: Plátano is an immigrant.

Both the banana and its heartier relative, the plantain, are everyday staples of today’s Latin American cuisine. But according to the chronicles of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo — a Spanish soldier and botanist who recorded Spain’s colonization of the Caribbean — these humble ingredients only reached this side of the globe during colonial times. Historians trace both the banana, “plátano normal,” and the plantain, “plátano macho,” to the South Pacific, where they were first cultivated centuries before the birth of Christ.

Since putting down roots in the Americas in the 1500s, plantains have found their way into every meal of the day in many countries, from Dominican mangú, a mashed plantain dish usually served for breakfast, to main courses and desserts. It is often a feature of savory soups like aguají, a Dominican vegetable soup, Colombian sancocho and many more. En fin [In short], the plantain’s contribution to Latin American foodways is just one more example of how cultures migrate and mix, enriching our lives, often in ways we may never contemplate.

Here’s our adaptation of the classic Dominican sopa de plátano.

Ingredients

  • 3 green plantains sliced
  • 5 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 medium white onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 carrot, roughly chopped
  • 1 cup red bell pepper, roughly chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, sliced
  • 6 cups sodium-free vegetable broth (chicken broth will also work)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 6 allspice berries (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp dried cumin
  • 1/4 tsp dried coriander
  • 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped, plus more for garnish (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • black pepper to taste
Ingredients for sopa de plátano in a colander (plantains, onion, red pepper, garlic clove, and carrot)

Directions

  1. Roast the plantains
    Preheat the oven to 400 F (204 C) and arrange sliced plantains in a single layer on the lightly greased cookie sheet. Roast for about 25 to 30 minutes until lightly golden and crispy around the edges. Remove from the oven and set aside. Mash when cool.
  2. Make the broth
    In a saucepan over medium heat, start the sofrito by frying the onions and garlic until fragrant. Add the peppers, celery and carrots and continue cooking until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes. Add the cumin and cilantro. Add the broth, allspice berries (if using) and bay leaf. Bring to a rolling boil, then set the heat to low and simmer covered for 5 to10 minutes.
  3. Combine, blend and enjoy!
    Take the soup off the stove. When cool, remove the bay leaf and allspice berries. Add the plantains to the soup and combine. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth, in batches if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste, and additional cilantro, if using, to garnish. Serve and enjoy!

Tips

  • Reserve some broth for thinning the soup to your preferred consistency.
  • Save a few of the roasted plantains. Using a tortilla press, flatten them and serve as a tasty garnish or side dish. To warm them up first, throw them on a preheated comal or griddle for a couple of minutes, turning them once.

Sources

The Hola Cultura adapted this recipe by consulting recipes on The Girl Cooks Healthy, Qué Rica Vida and the Dominican Cooking blogs.

Reading List

Interesting links we found while doing our research:

– Copy edited by Kami Waller

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