Banana Blossom Salad

Upon discovering the rather good fruit and veggie store in Civic I decided that i'd learn to cook one different item of unusual produce each week. This week was banana blossom which is a rather beautiful pinkish flower pod...apparently it is what later becomes a bunch of bananas, and is usually used in Vietnamese, Thai and Hmong cooking. It's also sometimes called a banana bell (there is a pictures below of what it looks like)This recipe is inspired by some others i've seen on the internet, but is ultimately my own creation using whatever other ingredients i had available. And it actually was quite yummy.

INGREDIENTS:

1 banana blossom2 fresh bananas

1/2 a can of coconut cream

soy sauce

sweet chili sauce

baby spinach leaves

rice noodles (the thin kind you use in vietnamese spring rolls. Have them already cooked)

1 fresh chili

1 carrot

chicken...breast cut up would be best, but i used thigh because it was cheaper

1 and 1/2 lemons

a large handful of mint leaves

salt & pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Remove outer petals of the banana bloom and put aside for later. Chop the rest into finely into threads. I removed all the stalky seed things when i did this, although i imagine they would also be edible. Take in the wonderful fragrance of the blossom! Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon onto the chopped blossom. This will help it retain some of the beautiful pink colour and add flavour.

2. Chop mint, chili (remove the seeds), and carrot and add to the blossom in a large bowl. Also add the noodles which should be cooked but cold and fresh baby spinach leaves.

3. Slice the banana and leave in a separate bowl in lemon juice from the remaining 1/2 lemon.

4. In a saucepan lighly spray with oil and add chicken pieces. Cook for a bit, then add coconut cream, soy sauce and sweet chili. Cook until you think the chicken is done and add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Pour chicken and the coconuty sauce over the salad. Add the fresh banana slices. Serve in one of the outer petals of the blossom and garnish with a sprig of mint. It is nice while the chicken is still warm and also the next day when it is cold.