In an effort to try some new sides for my standard chicken or fish weeknight dinners, I was pleased to find this Burundi Beans and Plantains recipe representing, you guessed it, Burundi! Burundi is a small, land-locked country just south of Rwanda. The majority of plantain dishes I’ve eaten have been oil-laden and deep-fried, so I wanted to take a slightly different tactic with this one. I drastically reduced the amount of oil for baking and included sauteed onions and red beans to offset the starch. And even with all of that, this remained a very heavy side dish. Matt said he liked it, but I was a bit indifferent on the flavor and texture for this one.

Recipe I used: https://www.internationalcuisine.com/burundi-beans-and-bananas/

Overall Level of Effort: 1

Skill Level: Beginner

Would Make it Again? No

Additional Notes: To cut down on time, I used canned beans. I doubt this made much of a difference in the overall flavor of the dish, but it did save me from getting a bag of dried beans of which I’d use only a small amount.