Simple yet scrumptious

Fairtrade Fortnight kicked off today - celebrate with this recipe from Allegra McEvedy
In the UK we eat over five billion bananas a year – yet the UK supermarkets has almost halved the shelf price of loose bananas while the cost of producing them has doubled, trapping many of the farmers and workers who grow them in a cycle of poverty. 
 Fairtrade provides a vital safety net for banana farmers and workers, by paying a minimum price that aims to cover the costs of sustainable production, and an additional premium that farmers can use to invest in community projects or to improve their businesses.

This Fairtrade Fortnight (www.chooseliberation.com) several celebrity chefs (from Gary Rhodes to Vicky Bhogal) are showing their support by sharing a recipe. Here's one from Allegra McEvedy to try at home... 

Mtedza Savoury Rice by Allegra McEvedy

This Malawian dish makes for a very yummy and simple supper. Mtedza is the Malawian word for groundnuts, which is what they call peanuts due to the fact they grow in the ground.

  • 125g thick-cut streaky bacon, cut into 1cm cubes
  • 2tbsp ground nut oil or light olive oil or rapeseed oil
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced (I used red for colour)
  • Half green chilli sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic rough chopped
  • 1 large breast chicken (250g) (marinated overnight in lemon & thyme if you fancy) cut into med sized chunks
  • 400g cups of rice (if you ever see it use ‘Kilombero’ rice from Malawi as it’s very specially fluffy, but otherwise basmati works fine)
  • 700mls chicken stock
  • Handful of coriander, rough chopped
  • 4 tbsp peanuts
  • 1 green pepper, sliced small
  • Half a spring onion, sliced
  • Squeeze of lemon
  • Salt
  • Pineapple to serve in if you fancy a retro moment

Whether or not you have lightly roasted or raw ones you’ll want to put them through the oven again to get the colour darker and bring the flavour out - 170°C/340°F for about 20 mins. Once roasted leave to cool and then blend, leaving a few for the top.

In your fave large cooking pot, heat the oil and fry off the bacon until golden. Stir in the onions and sweat down for a further 5 mins, then add the garlic and green chilli.

Stir in the diced chicken and rice and fry everybody for a few minutes making sure the rice doesn’t stick, then add the stock and a little salt and put a lid on it.

From when it comes to a simmer it takes about 10 mins like that, then turn the heat right down and leave for another 10 mins.

Stir in the ground peanuts, half the pepper and coriander and give it a good taste for seasoning.

Do the pineapple thing if you want, otherwise just serve hot or cold, finishing with the remaining three greeneries, a squeeze of lemon and a final scattering of nuts.

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight, Liberation Foods is launching the 'Great banana & nut cake bake off’ - an invitation for people to get busy in the kitchen and bake a cake using Fairtrade nuts and bananas and whatever else grabs the imagination. Simply post your recipe online at www.facebook.com/liberationnuts and our celebrity judges will pick the winning recipe