Recipe for Banana blossom salad

Hi! I've been inspired to try some new recipes since my kids left for college and have all these extra time. Can anyone help me getting the recipe for Spoon Thais famous Banana blossom salad? Does this have curry in it? Cathy2 thinks not. Thanks!

I found this link from Erik M: viewtopic.php?p=1788#p1788

I'm thinking there's also fried shallot. I can't recall if there is any shrimp, and I don't think there are any ground peanuts, although the following link mentions both: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/reci ... som-salad/

Just be careful when cutting the banana blossom - it stains very quickly. Applying oil liberally to your hands/fingers will keep keep them from turning black (you could use acid - lemon juice too; the oil is better to deal with the stickiness). And as mentioned in Erik's post that's linked to above - immediately dunk the chopped pieces into acidulated water or the banana blossom turns unappetizing black.

Thanks. I'll try the recipe this weekend.

Did you ever make it? Here's a link from the Hungry Hound segment on Channel 7 with more details about the recipe: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=6640787

BR wrote:Did you ever make it? Here's a link from the Hungry Hound segment on Channel 7 with more details about the recipe: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=6640787

Yes, I tried to post pictures but had difficulties. Thanks for linking to the old post. I made the nam phrik pao from scratch and followed Erik"s suggestion of poaching the chicken in the coconut milk and slightly under cooking it. It made the chicken tender and moist. After reading Davids experience on preparing the banana blossom, I decided to use the prepared banana blossom (canned) instead.
Some how in my mind I thought there was curry in there. So, I added a smidgen of curry in it. Hubby and son loved it. I went to Spoon Thai with some friends the following day and there was no hint of curry in it. I've e-mailed Erik and told him about the experiment and he gave me names of places where to get the nam phrik pao and I'll need to try using the fresh banana blossom next time.

nam prik


banana blossom salad

helen wrote:I've e-mailed Erik and told him about the experiment and he gave me names of places where to get the nam phrik pao and I'll need to try using the fresh banana blossom next time.

When you find it, please let us know where you got it, perhaps a photo of the jar/bag/amphora. Sounds like fun stuff to play with.

helen wrote:banana blossom salad

Looks a little monochromatic... Add more cilantro and mint? If serving for company, I might garnish with thin-sliced purple shallot and shredded carrot.

Tried it myself tonight, using Erik's post and the Oyster Banana Blossom salad from the Thompson cookbook as guidelines, limited by my pantry. Unlike one of the posters on the other thread, not overly astringent. I used brown sugar with a previously roasted, frozen jalapeno since I didn't have any roasted chile paste.

1 Chicken breast on the bone
1 20oz Can coconut milk
1 Banana Blossom (should have used a larger one)
1 Lime
1 Lemon
2 Tbs Fish Sauce
1 roasted red jalapeno, minced
6 keffir lime leaves (three whole, three slivered)
3 Tbs brown sugar
3 large shallots (about 2oz each)
Vegetable oil
1/4 C peanuts
1/4 C Cilantro and/or Mint leaves (I only had a couple of mint leaves left)

* Place the chicken breast in the coconut milk and three lime leaves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then turn down to low. Cook until just cooked through (I don't know how long that is, I had limited time so I took it out while still a bit raw, chopped it up and put it back in without the skin and bone).
* Meanwhile, slice shallots into thin rings. Dust a bit of flour on them. Heat vegetable oil 1/2" deep in a small saucepan until one ring bubbles vigorously when dropped in. Fry in small batches until they are golden brown. Drain on paper towels and season with a little salt.
* Next, slice banana blossom. Juice the lemon in about three cups water in a large bowl. I found it was easiest to remove the outer leaves, then slice it in half lengthwise. From there I could peel off leaves and remove the bananelles (not a real word, but you don't want to eat them, they taste like banana peel), then stack and slice the leaves, place immediately in the lemon water.
* Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces, and drain off all but about a cup of the coconut milk.
* Add sugar, fish sauce, jalapeno, juice of a lime to the coconut milk. Warm the chicken and drained banana blossom shreds.
* Scoop chicken/blossom into bowls, pour a bit of the sauce over it. Garnish with peanuts, shallots, mint, cilantro and slivered keffir lime leaves.

Tried making this tonight. Ugghh, what a disaster.
I made coconut milk from scratch and poached a chicken breast in it. I cooked a few shrimp. Added some fish sauce, lime juice homemade nam prik pao to a cup of the poaching liquid. Then fried up some shallots to make 'em crispy, chopped some peanuts.
I set up an acidulated water bath (water + juice of a lemon) and got to work on my banana blossom. I'm not sure if I got a bad one or what. I removed the outer leaves and little bananas. The blossom waste filled my counter. It was like those little Russian dolls. It seemed like what I was left with was a tiny fraction of the original blossom. I chopped up the blossom, threw it in the bath, then rinsed it and put in the pot with the poaching liquid. After ten minutes, I tasted a piece and...ptooey (spit it into the sink). Kind of reminds me of the time I ate an underripe persimmon. Super bitter. Where did I go wrong? I read about David Hammond having a similar experience. The funny thing is, I tried this a couple years ago after having P.S. Bangkok's version and it was half way decent. But I can't remember how I made it. Any ideas? Should I just stick with canned blossoms?

Well, back on the horse...
I tried a Vietnamese banana blossom (after a meal at Hai Yen reminded me how great it can be) based on a recipe in Andrea Nguyen's cookbook. It was actually pretty good. My biggest mistake was probably getting rid of too much of the blossom when I trimmed it. My last go at banana blossom salad was so intolerably astringent, I wanted to make sure I was getting rid of the most bitter parts.

Mise (sort of): Cucumber, chopped dried shrimp, scallions, carrot, fried shallots, peanuts, banana blossom, fish sauce, lime. The small metal cup has ground sesame seeds, sugar and salt.
Not pictured: mint, cilantro and grilled chicken breast.



Finished salad



I will definitely keep working on this one. Nice clean flavors, easy to put together and healthy.

Seems to me you can almost Semi-Ho this dish subbing out the banana with canned artichoke hearts, and the fried shallots with Durkee Fried Onions.