Gbessay Sabi Kuk! #2: Pierogies and Banana Sauce

 Post by Lara

10 October 2012

The fun thing about living in a completely new climate is that we have to adapt to a new annual cycle, including learning all over again what time of the year is the “season” for certain fruits and vegetables.  The end of rainy season, which is roughly September through October, is also called the “hunger season,” because rice won’t be harvested until a few weeks into the dry season, and many types of produce are out of season right now.  The one thing that seems to be around in abundance is bananas, and we gobble them up like it’s our job. We were lucky enough to be placed at a site where bananas are grown, so we pay as little as ¼ the price we would pay in Bo or Freetown for a bunch of bananas.  Because of this, we do a lot of cooking with bananas and experimenting with them to see what kinds of new things we can come up with.  Last week when we were making pierogies and discussing how sad it was that we didn’t have applesauce or sour cream to put on top, Kevin decided to throw together an odd combination of spices and mashed banana to make something that would stand in for the applesauce. It turned out totally delicious, so we wanted to share the recipe with ya’all:

Latitude 7 Pierogies with Banana-Thyme Sauce

The dough:

2 eggs

2 TBSP oil

½ cup of water

2-2 ½ cups of flour

Pinch'o'salt

The filling:

2 lbs Irish potatoes

2-4 cloves of garlic (pre-sautéed)

2-3 onions (also pre-sautéed)

Salt, pepper, hot pepper, and Maggi to taste [We only used salt and black pepper]

3 TBSP margarine

Banana-Thyme Sauce

1-2 very ripe bananas

2 TBSP water

Juice from ½ lime or lemon

2 pinches of salt

2 tsp thyme

Assemble dough ingredients, wet ones first and then the dry ones. Knead into a ball adding flour if needed to get a smooth but slightly sticky dough, then divide dough into ping-pong size balls. Let sit 30 minutes.

Boil potatoes until soft. Drain water (if you want, save the water and add until you have about 4 inches to boil the pierogies in) and mash potatoes. Mash in margarine, garlic, onions, and spices.

One at a time, roll a ball of dough out into a circle as flat as you can get it.  Place a scoop of potato mixture onto the circle and fold the circle over into a half-circle, pinching the edges closed. Seal the edge by pressing the tongs of a fork over it. Drop 4- 6 pierogies at a time into a pot of salted boiling water. When they rise to the surface, they're done. Remove, and put in your next batch. As you’re cooking, put the finished pierogies in a container with a little water or oil to keep them from sticking to each other.

When the pierogies are finished mash the bananas with water, lime juice, salt, and thyme in a frying pan or small pot. Heat until warm, and serve on top of pierogies. Pierogies are also delicious served with applesauce, sour cream, or soy sauce. 

A banana tree in our host family's back yard