Monday, July 18, 2011

Mystery Produce Episode 8 - Banana Flower


Yesterday we checked out the mega supermarket at a new mall nearby.  In the produce section (which includes Western fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary, basil, yay!) I saw a pile of big, purple, conical, husky things.  So obviously I bought one.  It's a banana flower.  Peel away the husks and little banana fetus tubes and eventually you get to the pale yellow, edible part.  It's apparently a pretty common vegetable in Asia.


I made a little salad, inspired by this recipe (and cute write-up on banana flowers).  I should have discarded another layer or two of the leaves.  Our salad was a tad bitter, but still pretty tasty.  Hard to go wrong with lime juice, fruit jam, soy sauce, chili powder, ginger/garlic paste and cilantro tossed with Chinese fake meat, topped with fried shallots and roasted peanuts.

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