Darasa

As tradition built it

Darasa

Livingston, Guatemala; Belize News Post, makes 8 to 10 · 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 10, peeled and grated green plantain, grated
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon, or to taste salt, a pinch
• leaves, cut into roughly 25cm squares, to wrap plantain leaf, to wrap

Method

1. Beat the grated green plantain with the coconut milk and a pinch of salt to a smooth, homogeneous mass.
2. Wrap the mass in plantain leaf and tie.
3. Boil roughly 30 minutes until it solidifies.

Notes

Naming varies by source, darasa, bimena or dani, and this chapter reports the variation rather than resolving it; one source suggests dani may specifically denote a cassava-based version of the same dish rather than the plantain one, though this is not confirmed.

What a modern chef changes

Concentrated plantain, gentle indirect heat

Rung 02

Method

1. Dehydrate a small portion of the grated plantain before folding it back into the fresh, wet mash, for a version with real concentrated plantain flavour rather than the wateriness fresh green plantain alone can bring to a steamed parcel.
2. Steam the wrapped parcels in a Big Green Egg run indirect with a water pan beneath, rather than boiling them in an open pot, for a gentler, more even heat that keeps the plantain leaf's own aroma in contact with the mass throughout cooking rather than letting it leach into boiling water.
3. Finish the tied parcel briefly over direct heat, lid down, for a few seconds of real leaf char, a genuine nod to open-fire cooking rather than a purely steamed result.