SERVES : 2
COOKS IN : 10 MINUTES
DIFFICULTY : MEDIUM
Before I went vegan, i’ll be honest i’d never heard of banana blossom, but it is quickly becoming one of my favourite things to cook with! For those of you that don’t know, banana blossom is the purple/pink flower that hangs from a banana tree. They are commonly used in Asian or African cuisine, but you can pick up cans of ready pealed banana blossom from large supermarkets.
I first used banana blossom to make a vegan ‘fish’, which was nice, but I instantly thought it resembled chicken more. It doesn’t have too much taste, which makes it easy to cook into whatever flavours you like – I really liked this caribbean flavoured batter, but you could quite easily follow the same steps with southern fried, Asian or any flavour you fancy. I’ve also made it using plain batter before and served it with satay sauce which was amazing!
Sticking with the caribbean theme, I like to serve mine with rice & beans and a coconut sauce, but you really can serve it with chips, in a burger or even on top of a salad.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 can of banana blossom
- Caribbean spice mix – store bought or a mix of paprika, cayenne pepper & garlic granules will make a simple spice mix
- Lemon zest
Wet Batter - 50% cornflour
- 50% all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Any dairy free milk (you can swap this for soda water or beer for a crunchier beer-batter)
Dry Batter - all purpose flour
- salt & pepper
- spice mix
HOW TO MAKE THEM
- Start by squeezing all of the liquid from your banana blossom and leaving them to dry for a while
- Coat in your spice mix and a squeeze of lemon juice, then make your batter mixes
- Whisk together the wet mix ingredients into a bowl and combine the dry mix in a separate bowl
- Dunk your banana blossom into the wet batter mix then into the dry mix, making sure it is all completely coated
- Pre-heat vegetable oil in a pan and deep fry for a 3-4 minutes until golden-brown and crispy
Try my Caribbean sauce alongside this dish, it’s sweet with a spicy aromatic kick – Fry onion & garlic for a couple of minutes until softened. Add to a blender with coconut milk, cayenne pepper, thyme, cinnamon, lemon zest and a splash of white vinegar and blend.
ONO KITCHEN 