Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Matoke with Groundnut Sauce
Steamed green bananas (matoke) mashed soft, served with a rich purple groundnut sauce.
Ugandan · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 75 min
~426 cal · 13g protein · 57g carbs · 20g fat · 10g fiber · 28g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Matoke with groundnut sauce is a cornerstone meal of Uganda, particularly among the Baganda people around Kampala. Matoke, starchy green cooking bananas, are peeled, steamed (often wrapped in their own leaves), and mashed into a soft, savory mound that serves as the staple starch, paired here with a rich groundnut (peanut) sauce.
The groundnut sauce is notable for its color and creaminess; some versions, made with a particular local red peanut, turn a striking purple. It brings nutty richness and protein to the mild, comforting banana. Matoke is so central to Baganda life that the word can simply mean 'food' or 'a meal.'
Served at everyday dinners and special gatherings alike, matoke with groundnut sauce is deeply tied to Ugandan identity and hospitality. It is the kind of soft, filling plate Ugandans grow up on and miss when away from home.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, 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 6
10-12 green cooking bananas (matoke), peeled
1 cup raw groundnut (peanut) flour or peanut butter
1 onion
2 tomato
3 cloves garlic
as needed banana leaves (or foil) for steaming
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Peel the matoke, halve each finger and drop the pieces straight into a bowl of water, then wrap them in banana leaves (or foil) and steam 45 to 60 minutes until very soft.
✎ Chef’s note
Peeled matoke browns within minutes, so keep the pieces under water until they go into the steamer. Rubbing your hands with a little oil first stops the sap staining them.
2
Meanwhile, simmer the onion, tomato, and garlic into a sauce.
3
Whisk the groundnut flour (or sunbutter) with water and stir in; simmer until it thickens and darkens.
4
Mash the steamed matoke soft, adding a little of its steaming liquid.
5
Serve the matoke with the groundnut sauce ladled over.
✎ Chef’s note
The one-pot version, katoogo, is just as common and even simpler: put the peeled matoke straight into the pan with the onion and tomato, cook 10 minutes, then pour in the slackened groundnut paste and simmer covered 25 to 30 minutes, stirring so it cannot catch.
Kampala tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Kampala. The rolex was not invented in Kampala. It comes from Busoga in the east of the country and reached the capital through the stalls around Wandegeya near Makerere University, and the chapati it is built on arrived with Indian labourers brought in to build the Uganda Railway.
🗺️
Uganda. The rolex is recent and it is not from Kampala. The egg omelette rolled inside a chapati took shape as student street food around Busoga and the university quarter of Wandegeya, and the name is a compression of rolled eggs. It is a modern invention that spread fast rather than an inherited dish.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Uganda
Ugandan RolexA fresh chapati rolled around a vegetable omelette, Kampala’s street breakfast, "rolled eggs" said fast.
LuwomboChicken or beef stewed in a rich groundnut sauce, steamed inside a banana leaf, a royal Ganda dish for celebrations.
KabalagalaSweet little pancakes of ripe banana and cassava flour fried until golden, a favorite Ugandan snack.
Browse all Uganda recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Steamer, Whisk.
Storing it: Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated. Resteam or warm through gently to serve.
Make it a Uganda meal
BusheraDrink
KabalagalaDessert
LuwomboLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Matoke with Groundnut Sauce?
Steamed green bananas (matoke) mashed soft, served with a rich purple groundnut sauce.
Where does Matoke with Groundnut Sauce come from?
Matoke with Groundnut Sauce is a Ugandan dish from Kampala, Uganda.
Can Matoke with Groundnut Sauce be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Matoke with Groundnut Sauce recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Matoke with Groundnut Sauce 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 count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), 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 Matoke with Groundnut Sauce take to make?
About 100 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 75 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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