How to make a Haitian meal

 My friend Lydie showed me how to make beans and rice, onion sauce, legume (vegetables), and bannann peze (fried plantains).

Start beans in lots of water, with salt (I missed the bean preparation).

Clean rice (pick out rocks, blow out chaff) and rinse twice.

Put rice in cooking beans, turn up gas high to boil, when water evaporates stir and put on lid. Turn down heat and cook about 10 minutes, stir, turn down heat even more.

Meanwhile cook veggies in oil: lettuce leaves cut up, chayote cut in half and peeled (remove heart) peeled carrot chunks. Stir and cook about 5 minutes then add chopped onion, pepper, tomato, garlic, and some magi. Cover and cook. Add a little water later and stir.

While everything is cooking, peel and cut up plantains. Wash the pieces. Heat a lot of oil in frying pan, stand back and add plantain. Fry about 5 minutes until yellower then turn them and cook more. Turn some more and it gets yellower.

For onion sauce cut up tomato into a sauce pan then add some oil and cook. Add a tablespoon of butter or margarine, cook more, then add 2 cups of water and ‘a little’ (a spoonful) of rock salt. When sauce is almost done, add sliced onion.

Remove the plantains, fry cooked meat in the oil, then remove.

Meanwhile crush each plantain between two plates. Dip each piece in a bowl of salt water, then fry in the meat oil. Turn once and fry around 5 minutes.

Put everything on plates and bowls, garnish with tomato slices, and eat!

First frying of the plantains.

Onion sauce and squashed plantains frying.

The legume - vegetables