Africa → São Tomé and Príncipe → São Tomé
🥔 SIDE
Angu de Banana (Santomean Mashed Plantain)
Green cooking bananas boiled in their skins, peeled and pounded to a smooth, firm mash, shaped into a roll and sliced to serve beside calulu.
Santomean · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 30 min
~329 cal · 3g protein · 86g carbs · 0g fat · 6g fiber · 41g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Angu de banana is the classic partner to calulu, São Tomé and Príncipe's national dish, and it sits beside it on the table along with rice, flour and fuba. It is nothing more than cooking bananas, boiled and mashed, but the texture is the point: firm enough to shape into a roll and slice, soft enough to soak up the calulu's sauce.
Many kinds of banana grow on the islands, and angu is made from the starchy ones: banana-pão, the local , and banana-prata. They are boiled in their skins, peeled, and pounded in a mortar or mashed hard with a fork until smooth.
The mash is rolled into a log and cut into thick slices, or simply shaped into a mound. It is also eaten with fish dishes such as sooá, and it is plain and filling by design, there to carry the flavour of whatever it accompanies.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 6 large green (banana-pão), or a mix of plantain and green cooking bananas
- to cover water
- 1 tsp salt, optional
Instructions
- 1Cut the ends off the plantains but leave them in their skins. Put them in a large pot, cover with water, add the salt if using and boil for 25 to 30 minutes, until a knife slides easily into the flesh and the skins split.
- 2Drain and, as soon as you can handle them, slit and pull off the skins.
- 3Pound the hot plantain in a mortar, or mash it hard with a fork or potato masher, until it is completely smooth and sticky with no lumps.✎ Chef’s noteWork while it is hot. Cooled plantain stiffens and goes lumpy.
- 4With wet hands, shape the mash into a thick roll on a board, then cut it into slices. Serve warm with calulu or other stews and fish.
Santomean home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
São Tomé. Sao Tome is an island capital cooking calulu, layered fish or meat with okra, aubergine, and leaves in palm oil. Portuguese and Angolan lines meet over breadfruit, cassava, and the cocoa and pepper the islands grow.
🗺️
São Tomé and Príncipe. São Tomé and Príncipe, the 'chocolate islands,' cook with cocoa, tropical fruit, and Atlantic fish, calulu stew, fried breadfruit, and palm-oil dishes. Portuguese-African roots define the equatorial island table.
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Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from São Tomé and Príncipe
Calulu de PeixeA layered island stew of fish and leafy greens with okra and tomato in red palm oil.
Peixe GrelhadoWhole fish marinated in lime and garlic, grilled over charcoal and served with a fresh chili and herb molho de pimenta.
Arroz de FolhaSeasoned rice bloomed in red palm oil, parcelled in banana leaves and steamed until the leaf perfumes the grain, a festive Santomean dish.
Browse all São Tomé and Príncipe recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Mortar and pestle.
Storing it: Thickens as it sits. Reheat with extra water or milk to loosen, and keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
Make it a São Tomé and Príncipe meal
Chocolate Quente de São ToméDrink
Sonhos de Banana (Banana Fritters)Dessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Lituma (Congolese Mashed Plantain)DR Congo
Funge (Angolan Cassava Flour Porridge)Angola
Aloo Bhorta (Bangladeshi Mashed Potato with Mustard Oil and Chilli)Bangladesh
Gozo (Central African Cassava Flour Dough)Central African Republic
Foutou Banane (Ivorian Pounded Plantain and Cassava)Côte d’Ivoire
Foofoo (Sierra Leonean Fermented Cassava)Sierra Leone
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Angu de Banana (Santomean Mashed Plantain)?
Green cooking bananas boiled in their skins, peeled and pounded to a smooth, firm mash, shaped into a roll and sliced to serve beside calulu.
Where does Angu de Banana (Santomean Mashed Plantain) come from?
Angu de Banana (Santomean Mashed Plantain) is a Santomean dish from São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe.
Can Angu de Banana (Santomean Mashed Plantain) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Angu de Banana (Santomean Mashed Plantain) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Angu de Banana (Santomean Mashed Plantain) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Angu de Banana (Santomean Mashed Plantain) take to make?
About 40 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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