Banana Bounty – Flower Salad

What to do with the Glut?
Pt 2. The prequel.

If you think ahead there won’t be a glut.
There can’t be banana fruit if you eat the flowers first.

Of course the problem there is that you can take the flower off after fruit has set!

But seriously, have you ever thought about eating banana flowers?

Banana flowers can quite easily be prepared into a delicious warm or cold salad.

Banana Flower Salad –
Coconut and Chicken.

Dressing:
heat peanut oil over a medium heat in a small saucepan. Add shallots, garlic and stir until golden. Add chilli flakes, cook for 1 minute. Add fish sauce and palm sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Once cooled, add lime juice.
Combine chicken and coconut milk in a saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and set aside to cool. Discard coconut milk. Finely shred chicken and place in a large bowl.
To prepare banana flowers:

The outer casings of the banana bell make great serving bowls/platters

The chopped heart of the banana flower soaking in lemon juice. This stops it from browning.

remove dark outer leaves to expose pale inner core. Rinse 4-6 dark outer leaves in cold water and put aside. Continue peeling pale inner leaves, one leaf at a time and place in bowl of lemon juice and water (this stops them going brown). Gather leaves together and thinly slice.

Chopped sections of the centre of the banana bell with chicken
Add sliced banana flower to shredded chicken. Drizzle with dressing and toss to combine. Add fresh chilli, basil, kaffir lime leaves and coconut and gently toss to combine. Spoon salad among reserved dark banana leaves and serve immediately.