Thai banana blossom salad

Banana blossoms are treated like a vegetable in many Asian cuisines and have a slightly bitter flavour. The creamy, inner bracts are crunchy and take on flavours of the dish, making them perfect in this Thai banana blossom salad.

• serves

  4

• prep

  9 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 banana blossoms
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 20 large cooked tiger prawns, peeled with tails intact, cleaned
• 3 spring onions, white part only, thinly sliced
• 60 g (½ cup) fresh coconut, shredded (see Note), lightly toasted
• 1 bunch coriander, leaves picked
• fried Asian eschalots (see Note), to serve

Dressing 

• 1½ tbsp dried shrimp (see Note)
• 2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp grated palm sugar
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp nahm prik pao (see Note)
• 60 ml (¼ cup) settled coconut cream

Instructions

To make dressing, process dried shrimp in a small food processor until finely chopped. Combine with remaining ingredients.

Remove purplish-red outer bracts from banana blossoms. Discard flower-like clusters and thinly slice inner bracts widthwise on the diagonal. Place in a bowl filled with 2 litres water, lemon juice and 1 tbsp salt, to prevent browning. Halve banana blossom cores, slice on the diagonal and add to acidulated water.

Drain banana blossoms and place in a bowl. Add prawns, spring onions, coconut, coriander and dressing, and toss gently to combine. Scatter with eschalots to serve.

Notes

• Fresh coconuts are from supermarkets. Use a coconut scraper to shred the flesh. Or, use frozen shredded coconut, from Asian food shops. Defrost before using in salads and stir-fries or use frozen for curries and soups.

• Fried Asian eschalots are available from selected supermarkets and Asian food shops.

• Dried shrimp is available from Asian food shops. Leftover dried shrimp will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 months.

• Nahm prik pao is a roasted Thai chilli paste from Asian food shops. It is sometimes labelled 'chilli paste in/with soybean oil'.

Photography by Janyon.

As seen in Feast magazine, December 2011, Issue 4. For more recipes and articles, pick up a copy of this month's Feast magazine or check out our great subscriptions offers here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.