Delicious Banana Flowers

Recently I passed some banana trees & was delighted when I saw that they were in flower. I stopped to photograph their magnificent flowers. The colours are rich & bold & they hang like jewels from the tree. The flower is a deep maroon of tightly wrapped thick sepals hiding smaller yellow or white flowers. It is these smaller white or yellow flowers which develop into bananas.

The banana flower essence quality; Humility Rooted in Calmness

"Humility, that low sweet root, from which all heavenly virtues shoot"

~ Thomas Moore.

This is a wonderful Thai dish which combines the deliciously rich and creamy texture of the banana flower with crunchy cashew nuts, the heat of roasted chilli and all the other ingredients. Banana flowers are the buds of the banana plant, which are soaked and shredded for use in salads. They are also available preserved from Asian grocery shops - soak in cold water for 10 minutes and rinse before use.

Ingredients - 

1 litre (4 cups) cold water
100g raw king prawns, shelled and deveined
1 banana flower (about 200g)
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
50g dried shrimps, finely chopped
1 tbsp sliced shallots
2 tbsp roasted cashew nuts, crushed
8 crispy-fried chillies
1 shallot, sliced and fried
Handful of coriander leaves
3 pieces of banana flower, to garnish (Asian grocery)

Dressing
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp roasted chilli paste
2 tsp dried, roasted chilli powder
3 tbsp coconut milk

Preparation -

Bring 500ml of the water to the boil in a saucepan. Add the prawns and continue simmering for 3 minutes, until cooked. Remove prawns and set aside. Discard water.

Remove all the hard outer leaves from the banana flower, then thinly slice the white inside part diagonally. Mix the lime juice with remaining cold water and soak the banana flower slices for 5 minutes to prevent discoloration.

To make the dressing; combine fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, chilli paste, chilli powder and coconut milk. Mix them together well until the palm sugar has completely dissolved. Gently squeeze water from the banana flower and combine with the dressing, prawns, dried shrimp, sliced shallots and cashew nuts. Mix well.

Serve sprinkled with the crispy-fried chillies and fried shallots and garnish with coriander leaves and banana flower pieces.

For a very quick film presentation of the recipe from the SBS kitchen, go here.

Another amazing Banana Flower Soup Recipe with prawns & coconut go to Suite101. And from Poh's Kitchen this amazing Rice Paper Rolls with Duck and Banana Flower.