This recipe is a part of my Global Vegan Challenge where each week I research and develop a recipe from a different country in the world. Many of these recipes are veganized based off their omnivore counterparts. While not all of these recipes are a one for one what you’ll find in their country, I hope you’ll still find them delicious!
Recipe Notes
- Banana flower takes a fair amount of prepping, and takes the most amount of time to prepare in this salad. I highly recommend checking out this prep video. We will be using both the flowers and hearts in this recipe.
- This recipe calls for vegan fish sauce. If you don’t have any locally available, there’s a recipe for home made vegan fish sauce here.
Vegan Banana Blossom Salad
Details
4 to 5 servings
40 minutes
10 minutes
Print
Ingredients
10 ounces Vegan Chicken (I used Gardein strips)
4 Limes
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Shallots
1 Bell Pepper, Green
1 Thai Chile
1 Fresno Chile
1 Carrot, small
1 Cucumber, small
1 Banana Blossom
1 Cilantro, bunch
1/2 cup Peanuts, crushed.
3/4 ounce Thai Basil
2 tablespoons Lemongrass, fresh
2 tablespoons Vegan Fish Sauce
2 tablespoons Vegetable Broth (I used Better Than Bullion No Chicken)
1 tablespoon Sugar
1/4 inch Ginger, fresh
1 teaspoon Salt (or to taste)
Directions
- Prepare produce. Slice bell pepper, one shallot, fresno chile, and lemon grass thin coins. Peel, de-seed, and dice cucumber. Slice carrot into two inch match sticks. Mince cilantro. Place in a large salad bowl along with whole basil leaves and set aside.
- Get another large bowl and fill with a few cups of water. Add the juice of two limes and set aside.
- Prepare banana flower. Remove outer petals, saving banana flowers. As you clean flowers add to bowl. Once all the outer tougher petals are removed slice the heart into very thin coins. As you slice add to water lime mixture to prevent browning. If there isn’t enough water add until flowers are covered.
- Prepare vegan chicken. Place in a pot of water and boil until cooked. Drain water, and shred chicken with a fork. Once shredded, add to salad bowl.
- Prepare sauce. Add shallot, garlic, fishless sauce, broth, sugar, Thai chile, gratedginger, the juice of two limes, and a small handful of crushed peanuts to a bender. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Drain and discard lime water from the soaking banana flowers and hearts. Add banana flowers and hearts to salad bowl along with the blended sauce and remaining crushed peanuts. Salt to taste and enjoy!
And as always the quick post recipe development thoughts from the stream.
In Cambodia at this exact minute! Your recipes look bomb, can’t wait to get back and make them. Seems like the Vegan alternative to fish sauce here is mushroom sauce, which might be easier to get for peeps in a big city with Asian markets. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Dan! I find that the mushroom / seaweed blend really goes a long way to making things taste “fishy”. It’s not going to be a one to one, but really does help to hit the flavor notes you’re looking for.