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Salad

Banana Blossom Salad

A Cambodian salad made with banana blossom, chicken, mint, basil, mung bean sprouts, and a sweet‑sour dressing.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Mung bean and lime share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 31 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven350°F
Time10 to 15 minutes

Ingredients

Contains: peanut, tree nuts, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • DRESSING FOR SALAD (Tuk Trey)

Also mentioned in the method: nuts

Directions

Prepare the banana blossom

  1. Fill a large bowl with water mixed with the juice of 1 lemon. Set aside.

  2. Remove the tough outer layer of the banana blossom and discard it, along with the undeveloped "baby" bananas inside.

  3. Carefully pull away the next several layers of leaves, regularly cutting into the stem to make it easier to break them off (the aim is to keep the leaves whole if possible).

  4. Lay several leaves on top of one another and slice the leaves crosswise into 1/4-inch wide strips.

  5. To keep the leaves from turning black, place sliced leaves in the acidulated water, turning occasionally.

  6. Continue in this fashion, releasing the leaves, discarding the undeveloped bananas and cutting the leaves into strips, until you reach the "heart."

  7. Cut this center in half lengthwise, remove as many "babies" as possible, and slice the remaining leaves widthwise about 1/4-inch thick.

Cook the chicken

  1. In a medium saucepan, bring the 4 cups of water to a boil.

  2. Add the chicken breast, return to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the meat is tender.

  3. Remove the chicken from the pan and let cool slightly, then shred the meat with your fingers.

Make the peanuts and dressing

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put raw peanuts in a shallow pan and bake, stirring occasionally to ensure even roasting, until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

  2. Set aside to cool. When the nuts are cold, grind them with mortar and pestle.

  3. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil and add the sugar, stirring to dissolve. Set aside and allow to cool.

  4. Pound the garlic and shallot into small pieces with a mortar and pestle; or grind in a food processor.

  5. Stir into sugar water, then add the remaining ingredients.

Assemble and serve

  1. In a large salad bowl, toss all the vegetables, mint and basil together with the chicken.

  2. Setting aside a handful for garnish, mix in the ground peanuts. Add dressing and toss.

  3. Sprinkle with the remaining peanuts and serve immediately.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Mung bean + limetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together31 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Mint + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together846 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + limetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + basiltop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,820 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,491 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Banana blossom
Provides the crisp, fibrous base of the salad and its mild, slightly tart flavour.
Chicken breast
Supplies the protein and tender, shredded meat that gives the salad body.
Fish sauce
Adds salty, savoury depth that seasons the dressing.
Sugar
Balances the sharp lime and fish sauce with sweetness in the dressing.
Peanuts
Add roasted, nutty crunch and richness throughout the salad.
Lemon juice
Acidifies the soaking water, slowing browning of the sliced blossom leaves.

The step that matters

Keep the sliced blossom in acidulated water. Cut banana blossom oxidises quickly and turns black on contact with air. Keeping the slices submerged in lemon water slows this browning and keeps them pale and fresh.

Flavor stand-ins for the mung bean

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (banana, lemon, chicken, mint, basil, pepper, peanut):

  1. Peasbetter flavor fit
  2. Sesamebetter flavor fit
  3. Beansbetter flavor fit
  4. Mung beanthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against banana, lemon, chicken, mint, basil, pepper, peanut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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