Soft, savoury-sweet pancakes of overripe mashed plantain bound with a little corn flour, onion and chilli, then fried in palm oil. A thrifty, deeply flavoured way to use up blackened plantains, popular as street food and a partner to beans.
Tatale is a Ghanaian plantain pancake, especially of the Ga and Ewe, devised to use up very ripe plantains mashed with flour, onion and chili. It is thrifty home cooking — sweet, soft and a little spicy.
Caramel-sweet plantain meets a savoury hit of onion and a sneaky chilli warmth, with crisp lacy edges and a soft, custardy centre. The palm oil lends an earthy, faintly fruity depth. It tastes like the best parts of a fritter and a pancake at once.
Overripe plantains are packed with converted sugars that caramelise in the pan, while a little corn flour absorbs moisture and binds the loose mash so it can be fried without falling apart. Palm oil adds colour and its signature flavour.
Variations
served with red red bean stew, made with grated fresh corn, spiced with anise or cloves, formed thicker like fritters
On the Palate
Where Tatale sits in the Ghanaian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 15 min
- 12 min
Choose plantains that are very ripe, soft and heavily black-spotted.
- 25 min
Peel and mash them in a bowl into a coarse puree.
- 33 min
Stir in finely chopped onion, minced ginger and chopped scotch bonnet.
- 43 min
Add corn flour a little at a time until the batter just holds together.
Watch outAdd the corn flour a spoon at a time — stop the moment the mash just holds a soft heap; too much and the cakes fry up dense and gummy instead of fluffy.
- 53 min
Season with salt and let the batter rest a few minutes.
- 62 min
Heat palm oil in a skillet over medium heat.
- 74 min
Spoon in rounds of batter and fry until the underside is set and dark golden.
Watch outWait until the underside is set and deep golden before you touch it — flip too early and the loose batter tears apart.
- 84 min
Flip and cook the other side, then drain and serve warm.
