Banana blossom is a tender, edible flower popular in Southeast Asian cooking and comes from the same plant that produces bananas, but rather than tasting like banana, it has quite a neutral flavour, so it absorbs other flavours really well.
It is fast becoming a popular ingredient in plant-based dishes and together with baked sweet potato, this recipe makes for a nutritious and low-fat, but also very satisfying and filling meal – perfect for balancing out all that lockdown baking!
Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes
1 red onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
227 g tin sweet corn, drained
400 g tin banana blossom, drained
1 dessert spoon wholegrain mustard
200 g passata
2 tbsp brown sugar or 1 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
Salt/pepper
Dairy free yoghurt
Chopped chives
Red onion rings/sliced spring onion
Method
- Heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6 and bake the sweet potatoes for 45-55 minutes.
- In a pan sweat the onion for 2-3 minutes, add the garlic and all of the spices and continue to cook for a few minutes.
- Add the drained banana blossom and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring well.
- Add the passata, mustard, sugar and sweet corn, then season well before covering and cooking for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- To serve, pile the smokey banana blossom onto the sweet potato and top with dairy free yoghurt, red onion/spring onion and chives.
Tips
You could also top with a vegan cheese alternative.
If you can’t get hold of banana blossom, you could substitute it with tinned jackfruit.
Serves 2.
