The very best banana blossom salad
a magnificent recipe from Chef Bee, a salad full of umami and crunch
Ingredients
- 1 big banana blossom prepared and thinly sliced
- 200 g fresh squid cleaned and sliced (or peeled raw prawns)
- 2-3 tbsp dried shrimp to get 2 tablespoons of shrimp powder
- 2-3 dried squids
- 2 tbsp of peanuts unsalted roasted
for the sauce
- 1 tsp of chilli jam nam prik pao, about 20 g
- 1 tbsp of palm sugar about 30 g
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 25 ml of lime juice
- 250 ml of coconut milk
decoration (optional)
- 13 g of fried garlic
- dried roasted chilli powder
- a few coriander and lemon-basil leaves
Instructions
Start by reducing the coconut milk
- In a small saucepan, bring the coconut milk to a boil and simmer over a medium heat until reduced by half. You should have around 100 ml of very thick coconut milk left. Set aside to cool completely.
For the salad
- Cut the banana flower finely and leave it to soak in water with acid added (see above) for 15 minutes.
- Grill the dried squid to bring out the flavour and cut them into thin strips. Set aside in a bowl.
- Grind the dried prawns in a blender to get 2 tbsp of prawn powder.
- Coarsely crush the peanuts in a mortar. It's not necessary to grind them into powder, just crush them a little.
- Quickly cook the fresh cut squid in boiling salted water. If they are cooked too long, they will become tough.
Prepare the sauce
- Mix all the ingredients of the sauce with the thick coconut milk.
To finish the banana blossom salad
- Drain the chopped banana blossom. In a bowl, mix the banana blossom with the sauce, add the peanuts, prawn powder, dried squid and fresh squid. Mix well.
- Arrange in a serving dish. Garnish with coriander and/or lemon-basil leaves, chilli powder and fried garlic.
Notes
Delicious as an appetiser with a nice cold beer!