Asian Market, Part 2

I promised more pictures of the International Market, so here is the first.

Walking into a place like this makes you realize how little we know about the many fruits and vegetables that are grown around the world. Take a peek at the banana flowers in the picture. These were bigger than my hand and very fat. I looked up banana flower preparation on the internet and found a few yummy sounding recipes. The next time I go to this store, I plan to purchase one for the following recipe:

Banana Flower Salad:

Put about one cup of banana flower (100 grams) through a food processor to make strips. Some cooks like to hand slice the banana flower, but this can be a very messy task. In a separate bowl, mix together two teaspoons of sugar, one teaspoon of salt, the juice of two lemons, a teaspoon of chopped garlic, ½ a cup of fresh basil (I prefer Tai basil, found in most Asian shops), ½ cup of chopped peanuts or almonds and chopped chili or jalapeño to taste. Toss the banana flower with the mixed ingredients. You can mix the banana flower salad with some lettuce if you like. You can also make a regular lettuce salad, use the dressing as shown and add just a bit of banana flower strips for fun. Garnish with fresh mint or coriander.

The next two pictures I post are products with packaging that made me laugh out loud. One is so good that I will be posting a caption contest, with the winner getting a great prize in return. So be sure to bookmark – or even better, subscribe to Shoot Me Now’s feed.