~728 cal · 40g protein · 93g carbs · 21g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Steamed beef with plantains and yuca on banana leaf
🇳🇮 Managua
Vaho (from vapor, "steam") is the Sunday celebration dish of Nicaragua, a big pot layered with citrus-marinated beef, yuca, and both green and sweet plantains, all steamed together over banana leaves until everything is tender and mingled. It is shared food, cooked slowly for a crowd.
Sign in to save recipes to your book and leave reviews.
Make it yours
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 8 —
•
2.5 lb beef brisket or flank
•
3 green plantains
•
3 ripe plantains
•
2 lb yuca (cassava), peeled and chunked
•
1 cup + 2 sour orange (or orange + lime) and onion
•
to line banana leaves
•
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Marinate the beef (or mushrooms and jackfruit) in the sour orange, onion, garlic, and salt for a few hours.
2
Line a deep pot with banana leaves.
3
Layer yuca, green plantain, the beef with its marinade, and ripe plantain.
4
Add a little water, cover with more leaves, and steam gently 1.5–2 hours.
5
Serve with a cabbage-and-tomato slaw.
Managua tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Sign in to rate this recipe once you’ve cooked it.
No reviews yet — be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Managua. Gallo pinto twice a day, and proudly.
🗺️
Nicaragua. The land of lakes, volcanoes, and gallo pinto mornings.
🌍
North America. A collision of Indigenous, colonial, and immigrant tables.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
More from Nicaragua
Gallo Pinto
Day-old rice fried with red beans until speckled like a painted rooster — Nicaragua’s twice-daily heartbeat.