Green bananas, potato and beef bones cooked together in a pressure cooker for half an hour with carrot, tomato, onion and achiote. The guineo is what makes it neither a plantain soup nor a potato one.
What a guineo is
This soup is named after an ingredient most people outside Latin America have never cooked with, so it is worth being precise.
A guineo is a banana picked and used green. Not a plantain, which is a different and larger variety, and not the sweet yellow fruit it will become if left alone. Green, it is dense and starchy, it holds its shape through half an hour under pressure, and it tastes mildly of banana without being sweet.
In an American supermarket, green bananas are the same thing. In a Latin market they may be sold as guineos verdes.
Peeling it
Green bananas do not peel like ripe ones. The skin clings and it has to be cut away.
Trim both ends, run a knife down the length of the skin without cutting into the flesh, and lever it off in sections. It comes away in pieces rather than in one go.
Do it under running water or with a little oil on your hands, because a green banana skin releases a sticky sap that darkens on contact with air and stains skin, boards and clothing.
The colouring
One ingredient on this list used to read simply color to taste, untranslated, which tells an English speaker nothing.
In Colombia, color is a powdered food colouring based on achiote, also called annatto, sometimes cut with turmeric. It comes in small sachets and it goes into soups, rice and stews to give them the golden colour that says a broth has been cooked properly.
It contributes very little flavour. Turmeric or sweet paprika gives you the same colour if you cannot find it.
Pressure cooker safety
Half an hour under pressure is what makes this a weeknight soup rather than an afternoon one, and the recipe's own note is right to be careful about it.
Release the pressure gradually by lifting the valve with a spoon, or simply wait for it to fall on its own. Never run a pressure cooker under cold water to hurry it: the sudden contraction can make it fail, and the contents are well above boiling point.
The lid does not come off until the pressure indicator has dropped.
More soups
- Creamy plantain soup — the other banana soup.
- Plantain soup — with patacones in it.
- Cassava and potato soup — the same starchy family.
- Beef ribs broth — where the bones go next.
Guineo Soup FAQ
A green, unripe banana of the ordinary eating kind, not a plantain. It is starchy rather than sweet, holds its shape in a pot, and tastes noticeably different from both the plantain and the ripe banana. Green bananas from a Latin market are the same thing.
No. Plantains are a larger, firmer cooking variety that stays starchy even when ripe. A guineo is the everyday banana picked green, and it is softer and milder once cooked.
Cut off both ends, score the skin lengthways and lever it off with a knife. Do it under running water or with oiled hands, because the skin releases a sap that stains fingers and boards and is hard to remove.
A powdered colouring, achiote or annatto, sometimes with turmeric in it, sold in sachets in any Colombian shop. It turns the broth golden and adds very little flavour. A pinch of turmeric or paprika does the same job.
No, but it is what the recipe uses and it cuts the time to half an hour. In an ordinary pot, give it an hour or more, until the guineo and potato are soft and the bones have given up their flavour.
Slowly. Lift the valve with a spoon and let the steam out gradually, or wait for the pressure to drop on its own. Never put a pressure cooker under cold running water.
Yes. The list allows beef bones or minced beef to taste. Bones give a better broth and minced beef gives you something to eat in every spoonful.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 guineos (green bananas, chopped into small pieces)
- 4 potatoes (cut into small pieces)
- 2 beef bones (or minced beef to taste)
- 1 small carrot (grated)
- 1 tomato (finely chopped)
- ½ onion or two scallions (finely chopped)
- ½ bouillon cube
- Red bell pepper (pimentón: the fresh vegetable, finely chopped, to taste)
- Achiote or annatto colouring ('color' in Colombia, to taste)
- Salt (to taste)
Notas
Instructions
- In a pressure cooker, put the guineos, the potato, the bones or the minced beef, the carrot, the tomato, the onion, the half bouillon cube, the bell pepper, the achiote colouring and salt to taste, with enough water to cover everything.
- Put it over medium heat for half an hour.
- Serve it hot.
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