I’m going bananas!
The banana has for most most my life has been my go-to fruit. Self packaged, sweet, full of potassium and energy it has got me through many a sporting event and long-distance run. In a West Indian home, ‘ripe banana’ wasn’t the only option in this family of fruit. We ate ‘green banana’ boiled in soups or served with hearty stews. Plantain was always a favourite for weekends when you had more time to cook and eat a full Caribbean breakfast.
A new part of the plant showed up on my radar recently. It was featured as the key ingredient at a vegan fish and chip shop in London. They were marinating, battering and frying banana blossom! I have not had the opportunity to experience this culinary delight myself, but hope to get a chance one day when it is safe to travel and eateries are open again.
In the meantime, I found a can of banana blossom in my local Holland & Barrett store and thought I would give it a try. I didn’t know what to expect. I figured it would be similar to green jackfruit, another Caribbean/Asian fruit eaten ‘ripe’ (sweet and fruity) or ‘green’ (like a vegetable). The can contained a banana blossom that had been quartered lengthwise. It resembled a long artichoke and the similarity put me at ease about what I was going to eat.
I didn’t want to go through the hassle and mess of a battered, deep fried dish so I looked for options that would use my trusty air fryer — much cleaner and safer! As it was often used to mimic fish, I thought of a coated, fish fry option. I settled on a recipe typically used for catfish or chicken tenders that is baked or air fried. Obviously neither of those items were in my dish. I used panko breadcrumbs as they give more of a crunch and made an egg-free dip from cashews, soy milk, vegan mayo, nutritional yeast and seasonings, which turned out pretty yummy.
The drained blossom pieces were coated in seasoned flour, the dip, and then panko breadcrumbs before being placed in the air fryer. To compliment the dry crispy blossom pieces, I used a store-bought sweet chilli sauce that kick-started the sweet-sour vegetables to go with mushroom fried rice, completing the dish.
I was very pleased with my first attempt using this unusual ingredient. I will certainly repeat the dish as it was very tasty! I’ll be on the look-out for more ways to use this delicious plant! 👍
