My love affair with Asia

Banana flower

I have never before been in the position to afford to travel interstate, let alone overseas, but it really is time I got myself over toVietnam and other parts of South East Asia for some hardcore eating. I wait all week for Food Safari  and Luke Nguyen's Vietnam (SBS) and I love cooking with new ingredients and trying different flavour profiles. My favourite new discovery is banana blossom (pictured). On the way to my parents' house there are a lot of roadside stalls selling bananas (mostly Ladyfinger and Ducasse varieties) and one of these stalls put a few banana flowers out for sale occasionally. They cost about $1 each and i really like the idea of having to search for and wait for some food items, it forces me to think seasonally.

Most recently I made a banana flower salad with prawns, using typical Thai flavours of hot, sour, salty and sweet. The banana flower has a strange, dry astringent taste that works really well with asian tastes. Only the cream coloured inner core is used and you slice it finely and soak it in water and lime or lemon to stop it discolouring so fast. Really fresh and light but also satisfying.

I also love coconut sugar. This stuff looks so intense that it should be illegal. It is dark, moist, caramel-smelling nuggets of GOLD. The pale hard palm sugar that is sold in supermarkets is horrible compared to this stuff. I am still working out the right quantity to use but I can see some interesting asian-style desserts coming out in summer using this, possibly with nuts or pear. I found a link for coconut sugar choc chip cookies on a blog http://www.cookiemadness.net/2010/01/whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-cookies-made-with-coconut-palm-sugar/ which I am dying to try out tonight. I may have to give them away though because my gorgeous man is on a self-imposed goodies ban to keep in shape for upcoming judo competitions. Sorry gorgeous!