Sopa cubana de platano verde frito (fried green banana soup)

Fried green banana soup is a typical recipe of Creole cuisine, very traditional especially among Cuban peasants, a broth that can certainly be enriched with chicken, pork, or beef, but the latter is rather rare in Cuban fridges.

Served hot with a good piece of bread, it is a delight for the few cool days of the mild Cuban winter.

The first step is to peel and slice the banana. For this soup recipe, we will use macho or green burro plantain.

Now heat a pan with oil and fry the banana slices for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Then remove them from the pan, then crush the banana slices with your hands on a piece of folded paper, as if we wanted to make plantain toasts. Add the lemon juice to the bananas and set aside.

Separately, the meat must be cooked until tender. After cooking, drain the meat and reserve the broth.

The meat, already tender, must be shredded and, in a casserole dish, seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper, then sautéed in a little hot oil, with the chili pepper, garlic, onion, coriander and tomato. Then the fried plantains are added to this sauce and little by little we finally add the broth, while we continue cooking over low heat until the preparation thickens to everyone's taste.
If we want the banana soup to be creamier, my dear ancestors added 2 or 3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs to thicken the delicacy. But I prefer not, bananas are enough.

So this soup would almost have the consistency of cream, which can be a very nutritious starter or even a main and unique dish for dinner in the evening. In any case, serve very hot, with fresh parsley.

Enjoy your meal and see you soon in Cuba, at the table with the Cubans.