I remember the old days, when I was walking out to the garden and found a bright red banana on a tree, I shouted and immediately went to "report" to my grandmother. She quickly chose a very sharp knife and made a very smooth path to collect the "spoils of war".
Banana blossom mixed with raw vegetables is already "delicious". My grandmother did not "waste the heavens' gift" like that. She considered banana blossom very precious, so she had to make it into a delicious dish. She mixed it into salad. And the banana blossom salad was "delicious".
She waited for the banana stalks to wilt slightly before she began to prepare them. Grandma slowly peeled off the outer layers. Then she took a peeler and cut the banana stalks horizontally into thin, beautiful golden-brown circles. To ensure the crispiness of the banana stalks, she had carefully prepared a bowl of salt water, squeezed in a little lemon juice, and added ice. She told the banana stalks to soak in this mixture for about half an hour, so they wouldn’t turn black, and would be very crispy when eaten. To make the salad less monotonous, she added a shredded carrot to mix in.
Banana blossom salad served with rice paper
While waiting for the banana blossoms, she went back to the garden, picked some Vietnamese coriander, and picked a few ripe red chillies from the tree. Later, along with the shredded carrots, these ingredients would make the salad more appealing. In addition, to enhance the flavor of the dish, she prepared roasted peanuts and some fried onions with a golden color and a fragrant aroma. A bowl of shimmering fish sauce was also prepared to make the salad more flavorful.
When all the ingredients were ready, my grandmother began the most important step: mixing the salad. She added banana blossom and carrots to the "starter", then poured in fish sauce, a little seasoning powder, and sugar. She used two pairs of chopsticks to mix well. When she saw that the salad was well-mixed, she added basil, then gently stirred it a few more times, seasoned it again, and added a little lemon juice to adjust the taste. After mixing the salad, my grandmother put it on a plate, added a few pieces of chili for color, and sprinkled some peanuts. At this point, my stomach was growling.
Banana blossom salad can be "paired" with shredded chicken, boiled shrimp, pig ears, beef... With the addition of "luxury" ingredients, the salad becomes even more valuable, the flavor increases many times. But for me, homegrown is delicious enough.
In the past, when eating salad, meat may be absent, but the round rice paper like the love of the countryside is indispensable. Break a piece of rice paper, pick up a chopstick of salad and gently place it on top. The rice paper and banana flower are a combination of two different crispinesses. The salad is so simple but full of salty, sweet, sour and spicy flavors. My lips touched the banana flower salad, I was fascinated. The aftertaste of the salad lingered on my teeth, making me want to eat it nonstop. Such a simple dish, but it is extremely "popular".
Later, when I moved to the city, I still got to eat banana blossom salad. But the taste was very different, as if something was missing. However, every time I ate banana blossom salad, I felt like I was standing at the end of the city road. The end of the city road was the beginning of the countryside, where my childhood blossomed with banana flowers…
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