Name: Plantain moqueca
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Brazilian
Ingredients: 1 kg Plantain; 300 g Tomato; 150 g Red Bell Pepper; 150 g Green bell pepper; 2 un Onion; 20 g Garlic; 30 g Coriander; 8 g Chili; 1 un Lime; 200 ml Coconut Milk; 60 ml Dendê (red palm) oil; 30 ml Olive Oil; 300 g Long-grain rice; 15 ml Sunflower Oil; 18 g Salt

Method

Pick the coriander leaves and finely chop the stems. Chop the garlic and set 3 cloves aside for the broth. Halve the chillies (ideally large red ones, close to Brazilian dedo-de-moça; small bird's-eye chillies are far hotter), scrape out the seeds and chop. Peel one strip of lime zest with a peeler, without the white pith.
In a medium pot (clay, if you have one) over medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon of olive oil and fry the chilli, the 3 chopped garlic cloves and the coriander stems with a pinch of salt for about 3 minutes. Add 480 ml of water and the lime zest, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove the lime zest and blend the broth with the dendê oil, coconut milk and 2 teaspoons of salt for 2 minutes until emulsified (hold the lid down with a towel because of the steam).
Cut the peppers into 2 cm squares, one onion into 2 cm cubes and the tomatoes into seeded wedges. Peel the plantains and cut them into 2 cm diagonal slices.
In the same pot over medium heat, warm the rest of the olive oil and fry the peppers and cubed onion with a pinch of salt for 4 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the plantain and tomato, fold gently, pour in the blended broth, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until the plantain is tender but whole. Do not stir with a spoon: shake the pot.
Fluffy white rice (arroz branco soltinho): boil 750 ml of water in a kettle. In a medium pan over medium heat, warm the sunflower oil and soften the other onion, finely chopped, and the remaining garlic with a pinch of salt for about 2 minutes. Add the 300 g of long-grain rice and stir for 1 minute until every grain is coated in fat. Pour in the boiling water, add 1 teaspoon of salt, stir once and cook uncovered over medium heat for about 7 minutes, until the water drops to the level of the rice. Lower the heat, partly cover and cook 8 more minutes until dry. Turn off the heat, cover tightly, rest 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.
Scatter the coriander leaves over the moqueca and serve it in the pot, with the rice alongside.

Shopping tip

Dendê oil is in Auchan's Brazilian aisle (sometimes at Continente) or at a Brazilian grocer; without it you get a good coconut moqueca, but it loses the colour and Bahian flavour. Plantains are sold at Continente and Auchan: choose ripe but firm ones, yellow skin with some black spots.