Banana blossom salad with prawns and herbs

The banana blossom, also known as “hearts of banana” or “banana flower” is a significant ingredient in Thai cuisine. A versatile ingredient, it can be eaten raw or cooked with the inner, tender leaves prized for salads, and the outer layers typically used in stir-fries, soups or curries.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  2

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

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Ingredients

• 1 banana blossom
• sea salt flakes
• 2 small red eschallots, thinly sliced
• 1 lemongrass stalk, thinly sliced
• 6 large, cooked tiger prawns, peeled and sliced
• ¼ cup picked mint leaves
• 1 tsp fried shallots
• ¼ tsp fried garlic granules
• ¼ tsp shredded coconut, toasted
• ¼ cup chilli jam dressing (recipe below)

To serve

• 1 tbsp thickened coconut cream
• 1 deep fried large dried red chilli, crushed
• 1 small makrut lime leaf, finely shredded
• steamed jasmine rice

For the chilli jam dressing (this will make extra)

• 1 cup (250 ml) coconut cream
• ⅓ cup chilli jam (store-bought, or see Note for homemade recipe)
• 2 tbsp palm sugar
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• sea salt flakes
• 1-2 tbsp tamarind water (see Note)
• 1-2 makrut lime leaves, torn

Instructions

1. Clean the banana blossoms and remove the tough outer leaves. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil over high heat.

2. When the water is boiling, add the banana blossom to the water and weigh down with a plate (they float!) and boil for 15-20 minutes, or until tender. The blossom may turn a mottled dark colour, don’t worry – this is normal! When tender, drain and allow to cool. Once cooled, cut into quarters and remove the core and bitter stamens.

3. Meanwhile, to make the dressing, combine the coconut cream, chilli jam, sugar, fish sauce, salt and tamarind water in a small saucepan and bring to a light simmer. Stir through the makrut lime leaves. Once the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat.

4. Combine the eschallots and lemongrass in a large bowl. Coarsely tear ¼ of the banana blossom into long strips and add to the bowl. Add the prawns, mint, fried shallots, garlic, coconut, then drizzle with ¼ cup chilli jam dressing and toss gently to combine.

5. Transfer the banana blossom salad with prawns and herbs to a serving dish and drizzle with coconut cream, crushed red chilli and shredded makrut lime leaf. Serve with steamed jasmine rice on the side.

Note 

• To make 1 litre tamarind water, you will need 250 g tamarind pulp and 3 cups (750 ml) water. Steep tamarind in room temperature water and let it soak for 15 minutes. Pass through a fine mesh sieve, work as much of the tamarind pulp away from the seeds and fibre as you can, to extract as much tamarind water as possible. Store the strained tamarind water in a plastic container only. If kept in metal, it will be tainted and unusable.
• To make 1 cup homemade chilli jam, you will need:

125 ml rice bran oil for deep-frying

1 cup red shallots, sliced lengthwise

½ cup garlic, sliced lengthwise

10 dried long red chillies, deseeded

¼ cup palm sugar

2 – 3 tbsp thick tamarind water

2 – 3 tbsp fish sauce

Heat the oil in a wok and separately deep-fry shallots, garlic, chillies until golden. Blend them all in a food processor, moistened with some of the oil used for deep-frying (up to 1 cup) to facilitate the blending. Transfer to a medium sauce pan and bring to the boil. Season with palm sugar, tamarind water and fish sauce. Simmer until quite thick, stirring regularly, but do not leave it on the flame for too long otherwise the sugar may burn. The resulting ‘jam’ should taste smoky, oily, sweet, sour and salty.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Bitter and Sweet

Watch the full episode here

G

Watch the full episode here

G