Slow week at work means busy time in the plantry for this little lady. After all, my energy has to be exerted in one way or another. And, I thought that I should stop at two workouts today. So that means I have been cooking/fermenting for hmmmm, lets see……about 7 hours. Of course there was a bit of downtown, which I actually spent researching some of the odd items I picked up at the International market.
I picked up a banana flower a few days ago and was really looking forward to working with this little guy. Usually if I have never worked with something before I will get a pretty small quantity, just in case it is not my cup of tea. I hate for things to go to waste! But, next time I will definitely grab more than one banana flower!
So, yes, banana flowers are really the flowers of the banana and used in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine. I wouldn’t recommend eating them raw due to the bitter taste and strange chalky texture. But, after lightly boiling them, they become soft and have a subtle flavor somewhere in between an artichoke and boiled shitake mushroom. Keep in mind you do NOT eat or cook with the leaves, you peel them and that is where you find the “flower” (as shown in the picture). Although, the leaves are a nice vessel to serve the salad in!!
So, this is my vegan version of what is known as “Goi Bap Chuoi Chay”, which literally translates to banana flower salad. Traditionally it contains prawns, fish sauce, thai bird chili, amongst a few other ingredients. Either I did not have them, or clearly cannot eat them. So this is my wonderful version of this bright and tasty Vietnamese salad.
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