Sopa de Guineo (Colombian Green Banana Soup)
Green bananas, potato and beef bones cooked together in a pressure cooker for half an hour with carrot, tomato, onion and achiote. Four servings, and the guineo is what makes it neither a plantain soup nor a potato one.
Servings: 4
Calories: 604kcal
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
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.
Notes
Be careful with the pressure cooker. Release the pressure slowly by lifting the valve with a spoon and never put it under cold running water, which can make it fail violently. Wait for the pressure to drop on its own if you are not sure. Guineo is the green, unripe banana of the everyday eating kind, not a plantain. It is starchy rather than sweet, it holds its shape in a pot, and it tastes noticeably different from both the plantain and the ripe banana it is related to. Green bananas from a Latin market are the same thing. Peel them under running water or with oiled hands: the skin of a green banana releases a sap that stains skin and boards and is difficult to get off. What Colombians call color is a powdered colouring, achiote or annatto, sometimes with turmeric in it, sold in sachets. It turns the broth golden and adds very little flavour of its own. A pinch of turmeric or paprika does the same job.
Nutrition
Calories: 604kcal | Carbohydrates: 75g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 805mg | Potassium: 1894mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 3137IU | Vitamin C: 71mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 4mg